Why we shouldn’t avoid stress
December 3, 2024
Stress is inevitable. We go through stressors in our daily lives. This can include family conflict, relationships, academics, work, etc. There are various reasons why you may get stressed. Naturally, we default to avoiding our stressors altogether. It makes us feel better temporarily, but you may not realize it does more harm than good.
Stress is not the enemy
Stress has just always been perceived as a bad thing in our lives. We think it's our enemy, but it's not. Our circumstances can place us in highly challenging situations. I am not going to tell you to get through it. That’s just not how it works. To work alongside our stress and grow stronger, you must embrace stress as an ally, not an adversary. Stress alters your body to prepare you for action, growth, and change. Stress is designed to keep you safe.
In the past, when humans faced threats from predators, stress helped the body prepare for survival. Today, while the dangers are different, our body still reacts with stress to situations like public speaking. Rather than avoiding it, understand your stress and learn how to navigate around it.
The benefits of stress
When we work around our stressors, we can view stress as helpful. Treating it as valid will improve your health, emotional well-being, and productivity despite juggling various stressors.
When you view stress as harmful, you may not cope properly. This can lead to procrastination and resorting to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as excessive avoidance behaviours. Over time, these habits can create a cycle of stress that feels impossible to break, furthering the challenges you're trying to escape. Ultimately, by avoiding stress, you increase your risks of depression and turn to more unhealthy coping strategies.
In contrast, if you view stress positively, you can cope in ways that help you grow and thrive. You’ll be able to tackle the sources of stressors and reach out for the proper support/resources you need.
Here are some more benefits of stress:
It motivates you: When you have pending tasks, stress pushes you to complete them! I know that might seem overwhelming, but it makes you determined.
It enhances your resilience: Surprisingly, stress puts your brain in overdrive, meaning it tries to search for solutions to overcome your conflict. This allows you to be on alert and to solve problems effectively.
Stress can strengthen relationships: It allows you to share your struggles and work through your challenges with the support of other people.
Promotes personal growth: Stress pushes you out of your comfort zone and challenges you to build new skills and adapt to change. This ultimately increases your resilience and helps you recognize how to improve.
When you avoid stress, you suppress your emotions. This prevents you from addressing your problems and limits opportunities to grow. This will make future stress harder to handle, so do your best to implement the right coping strategies!
What works for someone varies, so you must utilize the support that can help you best. Once again, stress is not your enemy; work alongside it and not against it. Remember, you will be okay. This is not an easy journey to overcome, and it takes some time to get a grip on it. Goodluck 🙂