A Dash of Stress

I found myself in a conversation with a friend recently, where we discussed how much stress he was under. We commiserated over our busy lives at the hospital and he mentioned that he can’t wait for the stress to be over, just gone, a life without stress. Oh wouldn’t that be the day! This got me thinking…

Here’s the thing though, I think stress is important. Stress is that fire that gets you up and gets you going. I, personally, find that I tend to get more accomplished when I’m under a deadline. Maybe it’s the procrastinator in me, but if I have absolutely nothing to do, I find that I do nothing. I am gradually teaching myself not to wait for the pressure to build to get things done; instead I look at my calendar and try to figure out things I can do now instead of later. But still… do I get going when that pressure comes. Anyone else like that? 

On the other hand, too much stress isn’t great. Too much stress can lead to anxiety, breakdown, and depression. We need balance. Just like our daily life and personal interaction can flourish with stress (doing something outside your comfort zone can teach you so much), so can our bodies. We need exercise to be healthy. That’s at least 30 minutes a day stressing your heart, to increase your cardiovascular strength. We need to run, jump, climb to make our bones stronger, when we get ill, we stress out bodies and our immune system learns and better protects us in the future.

Stress doesn’t always equate to something bad, but too much is a problem. It’s important to find ways to balance our stress.

How do you find balance?