Eustress: The Secret Lies Within “Eu”

Coined by endocrinologist, Hans Selye, consisting of the Greek prefix eu- meaning “good,” and stress, there’s even this thing called “eustress” (pronounced you-stress) which means beneficial stress – either psychological or physical.

Like getting a job promotion, having a child, getting married, retiring, or buying a home, in life, stress comes from not just the perceived “negative” events, but from the positive ones as well.

Eustress, however, doesn’t really account too much for the nature of the stress itself as it does the response one has to the stressor. Potential indicators of eustress may include responding to a stressor with a sense of meaning, hope, or vigor. Eustress has also been positively correlated with life satisfaction and well-being.

Buried five lines down on the “Eustress” Wikipedia page reads, “Eustress is not defined by the stressor type, but rather how one perceives that stressor (e.g., a negative threat versus a positive challenge).”

When I first read that statement, I knew I had found the secret to stress hidden right there in plain sight! Responding to a stressor as a “positive challenge,” and not a “negative threat” – I couldn’t have said it better myself!