Stress is pressure experienced from outside of oneself that becomes tension on the inside. It makes one feel tense and uneasy. Stress is a part of everyone's life. A bit of stress can actually be helpful, keeping you alert and feeling energized. Too much stress leaves you feeling anxious, down, unhappy and may make you ill. When tension builds up inside it can result in serious problems of anxiety and depression.
If stress builds up it can interfere with healthy living and interrupt regular activities. Many people with concerns and complaints about their physical health have stress related problems resulting in emotional and mental struggles. Stress is really about change. Any change in your life, big or small is stressful. Even positive changes can be stress producing, but the more sudden or disagreeable the change, the more tension is evokes. Too many changes, too quickly or too drastically can set up harmful tension.
Changes producing stress include, money troubles, unmanageable debt, lost income or sudden financial gains; accidents, injuries, illness for self or others; losses of relationships such as divorce, death, friends moving; family changes of marriages, having children, or retiring. The more these changes pile up one on top of another the more likely the tension will build inside.
Too much stress prevents us from living well. How we cope with stress is commonly a reflection of how our families coped with it. Often stress results in self destructive behaviors that temporarily distract from the tense feelings but ultimately cause more tension. Some distracting behaviors that can become compulsive or problematic include: eating, alcohol use, gambling, spending, control, legal or illegal drug use. See the section on our Web page about addictions and compulsive behaviors.
Some healthy ways of coping with stress include: taking a walk, meditation, a hot bath, massage, calling a friend, breathing exercises, yoga, a visit to the park, sitting outdoors, being in nature, or reading an inspirational passage.
Sometimes we suffer from a build up of stress over time from childhood and beyond and we've suppressed it, holding this chronic stress in our bodies and feelings. Then something happens, a trigger, and we can't hold it in the same way and we feel out of control and may experience a sense of panic and have signs of anxiety. This can be 'crazy making' because the trigger may have been small compared to what we are feeling. We need support in making sense out of what happened. This is the type of stress that simple stress reduction techniques cannot interrupt. More extensive help is needed such as counseling, workshops, support groups, information from books and tapes addressing family dynamics and chronic stress.