Eustress vs Distress

Have you ever heard the term Eustress?  It’s an odd word and not many we’ve run across have.  So, let us introduce you to it: 

Eustress - a form of stress that is interpreted as ‘worth’ it by the one experiencing it.  Eustress brings the kind of discomfort that comes from growth you choose to engage in.  Eustress can feel invigorating while also exhausting. 

Think about a time when you began an undertaking that was extremely hard and uncomfortable but yet you remained absolutely committed to it.  After it was all said and done you experienced a elated sense of accomplishment and were very proud of your endeavors.  That was eustress. 

Distress, however, evokes a feeling of deep frustration, dissatisfaction even when you’ve had successes along the way, and ultimately can be energetically draining.  Distress also comes when you don’t have a say in the matter or have been intruded upon, been put in danger, and have possibly lost a great deal that you now must work to build up again.

Knowing that eustress is a thing, and that it’s a good feedback mechanism that will help you to understand whether or not your efforts are for a cause important to you, can assist you in choosing a worthwhile direction..  Of course we can’t completely remove ourselves from distressing life situations however by knowing ourselves well enough and choosing where we can only to embark on paths that fit our true desires and are within our value systems we can potentially save ourselves from wasted time and energy.

Using an imaginary scale that holds a plate for eustress on one side and distress on the other how does your life measure up?  Are there choices you could make that will even the odds in favor of either reducing distress or switching over to more situations that invoke eustress? 

One example I can think of for bringing this point home is one I have personally experienced.  Let’s say that when one feels the societal pressures of home ownership as being a sign of success and chooses instead to live on a sailboat in foreign ports the idea of having a land on terra firma can sometimes feel more stressful than being afloat in far off lands.  Although the latter is potentially, and theoretically, more dangerous the risk is far more worth the reward of what one gets to experience.  Of course this is subjective. 

So, what is it for you?  Where do you choose distressful directions based on what is expected of you vs selecting one more in line to your personal views and ideas? 

Let’s talk about… 

~ WayFinder Wisdom