Stress Myths: Some stress is good for us

*MYTH #3: Some stress is good or healthy for us.*

FACT: There is no such thing as "good" or "healthy" stress. Also, there is no truth to the rumor that a little stress is necessary for us to be happy, successful, or maximally productive in our jobs.

This kind of myth is rather fatalistic in its outlook. Just because you have stress, and a lot of people have stress, we try to rationalise it and try to justify. After all, if we want to lead a successful, healthy life, we should not have stress. Some look at stress in their lives as an indication of failure. This is not so.

Having said that, stress is never good for you. While many experiences in life can excite us, such as movies, plays, and athletic events, these experiences have nothing at all to do with stress (i.e. problems and conflicts that are painful or troubling to us). Confusion about this, however, causes many people to incorrectly assume that a certain amount of fear, anger, frustration, or other negative emotions is actually "good" or "healthy" for them.

We should be teaching our children that much of the pain and suffering people endure in the name of "good stress" is unnecessary. The truth is most of this stress could be eliminated without any adverse effects on our health, happiness, or productivity.

Stress Myths: Stress can be dealt with directly

Here is an interesting myth about stress:

*MYTH #2: Stress is something we can cope with or deal with directly.*

FACT: Stress is not something you, I, or anyone else can cope with directly.

What does this actually mean? You see, contrary to popular belief, stress is not some "thing" that exists or afflicts us like a disease.

"Stress" actually refers to a situation or a state of mind that is a result of some other problems or conflicts. In other words, to deal with stress, we need to deal with these causal issues rather than try to deal with the "concept" of stress.

This means we have all been trained to think about stress incorrectly. Instead of asking "what can I do to cope with my stress?" you should be asking yourself "what specific problems or conflicts are troubling me, and how can I deal with each of these problems effectively?"

In this way, we will find that stress becomes much more manageable and we have specific actions that we can take.