Stress Management and Mastery: 3 Key Distinctions

So much has been written about stress management. But stop and consider this for a moment: why just manage something when you can master it?

Knowing and using these three key distinctions are the beginning of mastering stress.

Key distinction 1 - Fight or Flight

The fight or flight response is hard wired into our nervous system.

A long time ago when the saber tooth tiger jumped out of the bushes, we had a choice: fight the tiger or run for all you are worth.

Today when the idiot driver cuts you off or the boss yells at you, you have the same fight or flight reaction.

These days we fight by yelling and screaming, or flee into the TV, over work, addictions and other forms of psychic numbness.

Key distinction 2 - Stress or distress

Bad events can be stressful. Well, duh.

Did you know that good events can be stressful as well?

Graduating, marriage, having kids, moving, and promotions are all good things potentially, and still be a significant source of stress.

Key distinction 3 - Stress or pressure

Stress comes from the outside, such as a deadline or expectation.

Pressure, on the other hand, is an inside job. Pressure is what we tell ourselves about the stress.

The great thing is we get to control what we tell ourselves about the stress.

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What is stress?

Stress (roughly the opposite of relaxation) is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome, first described in 1936 by Hans Selye in the journal Nature.
An emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health which can be characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability and depression. Stress does not cause migraine but can be a migraine "trigger".
A condition in which the organism is subjected to unfavourable or unfamiliar environmental conditions, resulting in some alteration in normal physical functioning. Short-term stress can often be overcome. Long-term stress can reduce resistance to disease and parasites, inhibit self-healing processes, and reduce life-span.