The Place for Stress
The holidays, increased demands on our time and resources, including work and social events, family gatherings, finding the perfect gifts, decorating, travel and all of this is on top of our regular daily duties. At baseline, many of us are functioning near the capacity of our resources and the extra load at this time of year, even if some of the tasks are fun and enjoyable, can be almost too much to bear.
Psychologists have long known we are not all the same, there are individual differences in how people react to stress. Indeed, there are those among us who are calmer than others. For some, equilibrium appears to be a natural state of mind. If you have ever noticed these maddeningly balanced souls, you may also have wondered the secret to their success.
No surprise, stress is a downer. Negative moods, anxiety, guilt, and sadness tend to increase after stress. This is common sense. Even your very balanced, happy-go-lucky friend gets down when daily hassles mount or
catastrophe strikes.
What is more exciting is to track differences in the recovery from these negative moods after stress. There are fascinating ideas that positive moods can help undo the negative consequences of stress.
Positive emotions have more variable links with stress than negative emotions. That is, our positive moods do not always drop precipitously with stress, at least not for everyone. Given that positive moods are somewhat freed from the effects of stress, they may provide a resource to aid in recovery.
Discoveries about the protective effects of positive moods are in their infancy but there is promise to unlock secrets about coping with adversity and daily hassle. For those fortunate souls who naturally harness the recovery powers of positive moods, there is hope that what is learned about emotions and stress can lead to interventions to help the rest of us undo the negative consequences of stress.
Then, we can relax and enjoy the peace and gifts of this wonderful season.
Psychology Today
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