What is Stress?
Stress is a word we hear a lot and is an inevitable part of everyday life. You can’t avoid it. It is sometimes used to describe the very fast pace of life that many people lead or the way we
feel when the pressure is intense. It is also connected to any change that you must adapt to and generally occurs when we feel unable to cope with the high demands that are placed on us.
Naturally we all respond differently to different situations. Some of us may appear unruffled under almost any conditions while others may feel under pressure over the simplest thing. It
is difficult to measure stress, but we all have some experience of what it is like and how we cope with stressful situations.
Not all stress is bad. In fact, stress is not only desirable but also essential to life. We all require a certain amount of stress in our lives to help us respond to the various challenges of every day life; working to deadlines, for example may increase our energy and productivity.
In itself stress is not harmful; it can however pose a threat to our physical and mental well being if it is allowed to build up over time unchecked. Whether the stress you experience is the result
of major life changes or the cumulative effect of minor everyday hassles, it is how you respond to these experiences that determines the impact stress will have on your life.
