Not every emotion is stress.
Worry, annoyance, frustration, dissatisfaction, disgust, sadness, exasperation… these are negative emotions that can create painful mental and physical reactions. However, we would be wrong to hastily classify them as stress.
Identifying them allows us to treat them as simple emotions reflecting our brain’s analysis of a specific situation. This allows us to understand what is happening, to identify the cause and to respond to it as best we can in order to reduce its intensity or to prevent its occurrence in similar circumstances.
Taking them at face value as stress, without going deeper, without analysing them, without processing them, can lead to overflow: too many emotions, which then becomes real stress.
Stress, anxiety and anguish are not the same thing.
- Stress is a coping mechanism that is a priori useful. It pushes us to act.
- Anxiety and anguish are related to the anticipated uncertainty of the outcome of our actions and tend to paralyse us.