Distress vs Eustress – How to Harness?

What is Eustress?

Eustress, or Good Stress, is a type of stress that yields beneficial outcomes in our lives after facing stressful situations.

For example, when preparing for a favorite exam, you might experience feelings of nervousness and anxiety pre-exam. However, as you delve deeper and conquer challenging topics, you feel a sense of achievement and satisfaction, and funfact, do well in exam.

Eustress is induced when carry out tasks that pushes you out of your comfort zone but align with your capabilities and personal goals.

What is Distress:

Distress, or Bad Stress, is a type of stress that wreaks havoc on our lives, leaving us in despair and anguish.

Taking the example from above, instead of feeling a sense of excitement or anticipation before your favorite exam, you feel consumed by dread and uneasiness. As you struggle to grasp complex concepts, the weight of thoughts leaves you feeling helpless, uninterested, and overwhelmed. 

Distress rears its ugly head when faced with tasks and challenges that exceed your capabilities, personal limits, or lack of meaning.

Positive Effects: (Distress vs Eustress)

Eustress:

1. Motivation: Eustress can spur you to take action and pursue your goals with determination.
2. Growth: As you push yourself beyond your comfort zone, you grow.
3. Achievement: There is always struggle behind good things. Overcoming obstacles can bring about a sense of accomplishment.
4. Flow State: Upon entering flow state, you feel focused on achieving your objectives and free of outside world and internal conflict. There is even a theory suggesting that the flow state can become the reason for your trauma to be healed.

Distress:

1. Self-Awareness: Experiencing distress can highlight areas of weakness or vulnerability on which you can start working to improve.
2. Adaptation: You learn to navigate adversity and find creative solutions to problems.
3. Perspective: Enduring periods of distress can provide valuable perspective into life, helping you appreciate the good times and develop empathy for others facing similar challenges.
4. Self-Reflection: Adversity is what introduces a person to himself. Distressful situation can help you gain a deeper understanding of your self and true inner values.

Using Eustress and Distress to your advantage

Following are a few of the ways to use the ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ stress in your favour:

Harnessing Eustress:

1. Goal Setting:

Goal setting is a strategic process to establish objectives that resonate with your personal values and aspirations. 

By setting goals that hold significance in your mind, a sense of purpose and motivation is ignited in you.

To effectively pursue these goals, it’s essential to break down larger objectives into smaller, more manageable tasks. This approach provides clarity and direction, allowing focusing your efforts on incremental progress. 

Like a force applied consistently in a specific direction over time, breaking down goals into actionable steps facilitates continuous advancement in your goal-category and builds discipline which is needed for long-term.

2. Self-Talk:

• Positive Self-Talk in Difficult Situations:

When faced with a daunting task or unexpected setback, positive self-talk involves consciously directing encouraging and affirming statements toward betterment. 

For example, in the face of a challenging project deadline, rather than succumbing to doubt and self-criticism, positive self-talk could be, “Every obstacle is an opportunity for growth, and it doesn’t matter if I fail. It is more about becoming the type of person to achieve those results.” 

Positive self-talk in this context tames the clouds of doubt and overthinking, helping you achieve what lies in front of you.

• Negative Self-Talk as a Catalyst for Action:

While negative self-talk can be detrimental to one’s mental well-being, it can also catalyze action, particularly when combating procrastination or laziness. 

For instance, instead of indulging in excuses for procrastination, negative self-talk could be, “I’m being lazy. Now, I either stay a lazy loser or embrace the ugly to become an uncommon personality.”

Negative self-talk in this context acts as a wake-up call, while it can also spur you into action by igniting a desire to prove yourself wrong.

3. Time Management:

Time management involves consciously planning and allocating time to different activities based on their importance and urgency. 

Effective time management includes:

1. Goals: Set goals that align with your likings and values.
2. Prioritization: Identify tasks based on their importance and urgency in a hierarchy.
3. Creating a Schedule: Make a structured schedule to allocate time for different tasks and activities throughout the day.
4. Time Blocking: Allocate dedicated time blocks for specific tasks, minimizing distractions and interruptions.
5. Eliminating Time Wasters: Identify and minimize activities that do not contribute to your goals or priorities, such as excessive social media use or aimless browsing.

4. Enter Flow State:

When you’re in the flow state, you are at your best, doing things well, enjoying them, and free of external distractions and internal wars. 

Here’s an easy guide on how to enter the flow state:

1. Start by getting rid of anything that might distract you. Make a calm space where you can focus without interruptions.
2. Make sure what you’re doing matches up with what you’re thinking.
3. Don’t avoid mistakes. Just go with the flow and let things happen naturally.

Before you know it, you’ll be in the flow state, loving what you’re doing and doing it well.

5. Stay On-Course:

Staying on-course means planning for different situations beforehand. Therefore, to be ready to handle unexpected problems and setbacks while keeping your goal in mind to stay tunnel visioned on achieving them.

It’s like having a map to guide you even if the road gets bumpy.

Managing Distress:

1. Understanding the Triggers:

Take some time to think about situations in the past where you felt overwhelmed, anxious, or upset. Consider what events or circumstances led to these feelings and how you reacted to them.

By examining these experiences, you can learn and develop strategies to handle similar situations better in the future.

Once you’ve identified these triggers, try to analyze them further. Ask yourself questions like:

• What specifically about this situation caused me distress?
• How did I respond to it?
• Did my reaction help or exacerbate the distress?

      Journaling:

If you’re having trouble figuring out your triggers, you can turn to journaling as a helpful tool.

Take a journal and start writing about your experiences during a distressed moment. Describe the situation, your thoughts, emotions, and reactions in detail.

As you continue to journal about different distressing moments, you may start to notice patterns or common themes emerging. 

2. Regular Exercise:

Regular exercise can be highly beneficial during distressful times for several reasons:

1. Stress Reduction: Exercise can help alleviate feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
2. Distraction: It can provide a healthy distraction from distressing thoughts or situations.
3. Improved Sleep: It can enhance sleep quality, making it easier to rest and recharge after a stressful day.
4. Confidence Boost: Achieving fitness goals, and feeling stronger and capable physically, can translate to increased resilience and a more positive outlook during challenging times.

3. Problem-Solving:

Here’s how problem-solving can help you manage distress:

1. Identifying the Problem: Take the time to identify what is causing you distress.
2. Analyzing the Situation: Once you have identified the problem, take a step back to analyze the situation. Consider what factors are contributing to the problem and how they are impacting you.
3. Generating Solutions: Brainstorm potential solutions to address the problem. Be open-minded in considering different approaches.
4. Taking Action: Select the solution that you believe is most effective and take immediate action to implement it.

4. Changing Perspective:

When you’ve faced adversity and overcome it, you’re able to value moments of joy and happiness even more.

Understand that difficult moments are temporary and that patience can help you navigate through them with grace and strength. Shift your focus from what you lack to what you have, finding gratitude in the small blessings that surround you.

Using the sine wave, we can see that the lower end of the wave gives rise to the upper end. Similarly in life, the low times give value and meaning to good times in life.

Final Thoughts:

Eustress, the positive stress, propels us toward growth and achievement, and distress, the negative stress, the unwelcome burden that weighs us down, both play significant roles in shaping our experiences. 

By harnessing eustress, we can find motivation, achieve personal growth, and experience moments of fulfillment and joy. Conversely, by managing distress effectively, we can learn valuable lessons, develop resilience, and emerge stronger from adversity.

Ultimately, life is a journey filled with ups and downs, challenges, and triumphs. By embracing both eustress and distress, and learning to navigate them effectively, we can lead more fulfilling, balanced, and resilient lives. 

Remember, in the ebb and flow of life, each experience, whether positive or negative, shapes and enriches our journey, helping us become the best version of ourselves.

References:

1. Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
2. Seaward, B. L. (2015). Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
3. Selye, H. (1976). Stress in Health and Disease. Boston: Butterworths.
4. McGonigal, K. (2016). The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. New York: Avery.
5. Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. New York: Vintage Books.
6. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper & Row.
7. Lovallo, W. R. (2015). Stress and Health: Biological and Psychological Interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Mental Health Help:

National Helplines:

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
• SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Online Resources:

• NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness): https://www.nami.org
• MentalHealth.gov: https://www.mentalhealth.gov

Local Resources

When looking for mental health support, it’s often best to start locally. Many communities have mental health clinics, hospitals, and community centres that offer counselling and therapy services. You can find these services by searching online directories, like Psychology Today’s Therapist Finder, which allows you to filter results by location, specialty, and insurance coverage. Additionally, your primary care doctor can be a valuable resource, as they can refer you to local mental health professionals or services that meet your needs.

How to Find Help

Finding the right mental health help can be overwhelming, but there are several ways to simplify the process:

1. Online Directories: Websites like Psychology Today, GoodTherapy, and Therapist Finder offer comprehensive directories of mental health professionals. These platforms let you search by location, issues treated, and insurance acceptance.
2. Health Insurance Providers: Your health insurance provider can give you a list of covered mental health services and providers, ensuring you receive care within your network.
3. Healthcare Providers: Don’t hesitate to speak with your primary care physician or a general practitioner. They can provide referrals to trusted mental health professionals or guide you on how to access the services you need.