Stress is one of our natural response mechanisms.

But, what exactly is stress?

There are a huge range of definitions. Stress is what you feel/think in reaction to things ranging from little annoyances [such as slow-moving lines in grocery stores] to major life events [such as deaths in the family]. Stress is linked to anxiety and a number of other psychological and physiological things.

Even the experts cannot agree on a definition of stress. When it comes to defining stress, I expect it is best to ignore the experts.

Regardless, don't get tied up in efforts to define stress: you know what stress is. At least, you know what stress means to you. You know how you feel about stress. And, if you are like the vast majority of people you don’t feel good about stress. You view stress as a problem. If you are like the vast majority of people then for you stress is, at best, a necessary evil…a persistent problem you must cope with.

If you believe in The Law of Attraction [i.e., either in a general way or in a hard-core way] then you must accept that viewing stress as a problem enhances the likelihood stress will be a problem. Even if you don’t believe in The Law of Attraction, you might agree that negative thinking tends to exacerbate problems.

That said – perhaps, you can adjust your thinking to believe stress is a not-all-bad fact of life.

Sure, stress may bring about psychological problems like anxiety and depression. Sure, stress may increase the risk of disease and death. Those are possibilities. Those are logical-supported conclusions. However, they do not create very helpful mindsets. In fact, they make for rather troubling and possibly self-destructive mindsets.

When we stew over stresses, we cannot at the same time hold thoughts and feelings of self-confidence.

Without self-confidence, we have little to offer ourselves or others.

For this reason alone, we must believe stress is a not-all-bad fact of life.

When we believe this, we approach life’s problems [both the small ones and the major ones] with a different mindset…a more-productive attitude. Opportunities become visible.

And, we ingrain the habits required for peace of mind.