Lesson One - How Stress Affects Your Life

Stress is not always a bad thing. Stress is only how your body reacts to situations that are beyond your coping abilities. People tend to use the word “stress” to describe negative situations, but there is a difference between positive and negative stress.

Positive stress is called eustress. Eustress is the type of stress that motivates you, and it is actually perceived as something that is within our coping abilities. It is perceived this way because it is exciting and helps to improve our performance; these are factors that are anticipated. Eustress helps to focus our energy, but it is short-term.