{"id":13454,"date":"2022-07-25T16:29:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T06:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecareers.emotedigital.com.au\/?p=13454"},"modified":"2022-07-25T16:29:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T06:29:03","slug":"stress-isnt-all-bad-the-secret-superpower-you-need-to-tap-into","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/stress-isnt-all-bad-the-secret-superpower-you-need-to-tap-into\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress Isn\u2019t All Bad! The Secret Superpower You Need to Tap Into"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><em>\u201cI\u2019m so stressed!\u201d \u201cThis is so stressful!\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know how to cope with all this!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many times a day or week do you find yourself saying or thinking statements like these?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stress comes in many forms, and when you\u2019re hitting those final school years, it can quickly feel like stress is going to overwhelm you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stress is often connected to bad feelings &#8211; but what if we told you that stress could actually be a force for <strong>GOOD<\/strong> in your life?<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Stress As a Superpower<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay, so there\u2019s a fair bit of science and psychology behind this, and we don\u2019t want to overwhelm you, but YES &#8211; stress can be a secret superpower when you know how to tell the difference between good stress and bad stress.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good stress is known as <strong>Eustress<\/strong>. Bad stress is known as <strong>Distress<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Eustress:<\/strong> This is the kind of stress we feel when an emotionally charged event causes us to feel excited and satisfied or fills us with positive anticipation. We often don\u2019t see this as \u2018stress\u2019 because it\u2019s associated with positive outcomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Distress<\/strong>: The opposite of eustress is the stress that can make us feel anxious, worried, and withdrawn and causes us to experience low moods. This is associated with events that we would rather avoid, that can be challenging or confrontational.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we\u2019re in a state of eustress, we are more open to learning which means we\u2019re more likely to repeat the behaviours that create the positive experience and emotions as part of the \u2018stressful\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalhelp.net\/stress\/self-efficacy-and-the-perception-of-control-in-stress-reduction\/\">Psychologists<\/a> have found that one of the critical deciders of whether we experience an event as causing eustress or distress is our perception of it. There are two parts to this:<\/p>\n<ol style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Whether we view the event as stressful in the first place. For example, if you love meeting new people, a party won\u2019t feel stressful, but if you have social anxiety, a party can feel very stressful!<\/li>\n<li>Whether we feel we have any control over the situation and the amount of stress it can create.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what happens when we take this information and apply it to our perceptions of potentially stressful events?<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Good Stress vs. Bad Stress<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news is that we tend to have much more control over how much distress an event creates in our lives than we realise.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s look at a super common distress-inducing event for many young people: exams.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You could perceive having to take exams as causing eustress or distress depending on how you approach the situation:<\/p>\n<table style=\"font-weight: 400;\" width=\"624\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"312\"><strong>Exams = Eustress<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"312\"><strong>Exams = Distress<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"312\">\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You find out the exact time and date of your exam and create a study plan to help you prepare in the lead-up to it.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You take regular notes in class and stay up to date with readings and homework to be ready for the exam.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You research past exam questions and add practice tests into your study plan to help you manage your time.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You seek feedback and support from your teacher with areas you\u2019re struggling with.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You openly talk with friends about how you\u2019re preparing and share the load of how exams can feel stressful.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You plan to reward yourself with your favourite meal and those new sneakers you\u2019ve been eyeing up when you pass your exam.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You pass your exam! And now you get a delicious meal and a new pair of kicks. Win. You\u2019re motivated to stick to this plan next time!<\/td>\n<td width=\"312\">\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know when your exam is, but it\u2019s so far in the future that you decide not to worry about it right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A month before the exam, your teacher reminds you that you need to prepare, but you haven\u2019t taken good enough notes and are unsure where to start.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Instead of seeking help, you avoid thinking about things and binge Netflix &#8211; it\u2019ll be fine, right?<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re so worried about how you\u2019ll catch up that you can\u2019t even think about the possibility of passing the exam and how you\u2019ll reward yourself.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You spend the last few days before your exam cramming as much as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You sit the exam and rush through it because you want the whole thing to be over.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You feel low because you\u2019re sure you\u2019ve failed and will have to resit. You\u2019re unmotivated by the whole experience.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can probably tell, BOTH of these scenarios are within your control &#8211; YOU are the deciding factor in how you approach the situation and the feelings of stress it might cause.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So while you might not have control over whether or not you need to sit exams as part of your educational achievements, you <strong>can<\/strong> control whether you decide to let them cause you eustress or distress.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many stressful experiences can you think of where this same idea could be applied?<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Positive Stress Coping Strategies<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When faced with a stressful situation, you also have choices over how you handle it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you might guess &#8211; some of these are positive and constructive, and others might feel good momentarily but won\u2019t help you handle stress long-term.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coping strategies that might not support you long-term include avoidant activities like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ignoring the problem or situation.<\/li>\n<li>Shutting yourself away from friends or family.<\/li>\n<li>Excessive focus on hobbies (which could mean bingeing on Netflix, playing video games all night, endless scrolling on social media, overeating etc.).<\/li>\n<li>Ignoring your feelings and emotions with an <em>\u2018it doesn\u2019t matter\u2019<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have ALL been guilty of one or two of the above at some point (<em>totally putting our hands up to bingeing Netflix and eating ALL of the Ben&amp;Jerry\u2019s to avoid deadlines!<\/em>), and it\u2019s not that they\u2019re \u2018bad\u2019 if you feel like you just need a break and some time to yourself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The important thing is not to let them take over and allow stress to build as a result of <strong>only<\/strong> doing things like these.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Positive coping strategies can look different to everyone but include things such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Making proactive plans to tackle the stressful situation and sticking to them.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking with friends, family or teachers about how you\u2019re feeling and getting support to overcome stressful situations.<\/li>\n<li>Adding practices such as gratitude, mindfulness or journaling to your day to help focus and relieve stress.<\/li>\n<li>Eating healthy, getting some exercise, and taking social media breaks to support overall mind-body health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Hone in On Your Superpower<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now you know the difference; you\u2019ve got a big responsibility.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And with big responsibility comes great power &#8211; <em>that\u2019s how the saying goes, right?!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But seriously, the next time you start to see a situation as stressful, stop and think; how can I turn this distress into eustress, and if I can\u2019t, what are the best coping strategies for me in this moment to work through this challenge and minimise the distress created?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We reckon that\u2019s a pretty good superpower to have in your back pocket!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019m so stressed!\u201d \u201cThis is so stressful!\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know how to cope with all this!\u201d How many times a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[37],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13454"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13458,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13454\/revisions\/13458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}