Who knew? There are two kinds of stress: distress and eustress.

In a few hours, I’m off to Kansas City, to help get everything organized for my sister’s wedding this weekend.

A wedding is a wonderful occasion, but it also produces a lot of anxiety.

I just learned a new term, “eustress.” When we talk about stress, we generally mean “distress,” stress with its negative aspects. “Eustress” is the desirable kind of stress that comes from stimulating circumstances or challenges.

The distinction between dis-stress and eu-stress refers not to the effect on the person, but to the nature of the stress.

Although eustress is positive, it can be just as taxing at regular stress. My sister, for example, has two huge sources of eustress right now: getting married and getting her pilot picked up by ABC. Both of these are wonderful, and she’s thrilled – but she’s also very stressed. Or rather, eustressed.

This is familiar to everyone, of course. Happy occasions like getting a big promotion, the Christmas holidays, buying a new house, having a baby, or going rock-climbing can be very stressful.

I think it’s helpful to know this distinction. I’ll bet that reminding myself that I’m “eustressed” will help me remember to keep a grateful, appreciative frame of mind when I’m feeling stressed about a positive event.

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I can't believe that I've never mentioned Lifehack before, but apparently I never have. It's a site I love to visit when I'm between tasks and can't seem to get myself motivated to start the next thing. It's always interesting and helpful, and just dipping into its enthusiastic, we-can-tackle-it atmosphere gives me a boost.

Comments

[The Happy Rock]

Thanks for the reminder. Problems and situations that force us outside of our comfort zone and stretch us are great for growth and fullfillment. It is often helpful to create Eustress(good stress)situations for ourselves too.

Distress is unavoidable, but how we respond to it is of the utmost importance.

I enjoy your blog!

-The Happy Rock

[Janna]

Sitting here on the couch relaxing... I'm plenty eustressed!! :)

[Michelle Potter]

How do you pronounce eustress, Gretchen?

[Beth]

I'm guessing the word "eustress" is related to the word "euphoria," which offers a great spin on the concept!

[Gretchen Rubin]

Yes, both have the Greek prefix "eu," which means good, normal, or happy, while "dis" means ill, bad, or abnormal.

Usually "eu" is pronounced, so fittingly the word is pronounced you-stressed.

[Barry Lenson]

My book, Good Stress, Bad Stress (Marlowe & Co.)expands a bit on the eustress/distress division. It has now been published in Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, so it seems that there are a lot of people out there who are getting to nkow the distinction between stress that stimulates us and stress that wears us down.
As you probably know, the eustress/distinction was first made by Hans Selye, a behavioral scientist who wrote several books on the topic.
I like your blog very much and added it to the blog roll of my own blog, transcendentalismblog.typepad.com
Happiness is transcendental! Keep up the excellent posts,
Barry Lenson
PS - Other good examples of the power of the "eu" prefix include euphemism and euphonium (a musical instrument that is supposed to sound good, but actually doesn't).

[the ruminating redhead]

Another thing about "eustress" ...Selye coined the phrase himself...is that it does not cause the same damaging physiological state as "bad" stress. Bad stress-if left unattended to run rampant through your body-will kill you. Eustress will simply motivate and empower you.

[ma578zda]

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