WHAT IS EUSTRESS?

Why can’t we always be happy?

Happiness, joy, merriment, contentment, satisfaction, pleasure – all these words represent a type of stress called Eustress.

As pointed out earlier, there are three types of stress – Eustress, Neustress, and Distress. Eustress exists far away from distress but with the same degree of stress. See How Are Emotions Connected to Stress?

On a continuum of stress, both these stresses are on the opposite sides. They are like mirror images. Distress is symmetrically opposite to Eustress. The happy person is also experiencing heightened stress but at a pleasurable level. This has been explained more clearly in "What is Stress?"

Happiness is not the same as Relaxation

Many may argue that we are relaxed during these emotional states. We are not. The level of arousal during Eustress is as high as that during distress. It is pertinent to point out here that relaxation refers to neustress and is not the equivalent of happiness.

Being euphoric or miserable are two sides of the same coin. In both cases, the physiological and psychological arousals are heightened.

For example, a ride on a rollercoaster may induce eustress in one person and distress in another. The latter may find it painful, unpleasant, and worrisome while the former is seen enjoying it. The emotions are opposed to each other and the type of stress is quite different but the degree of stress is similar. Very few people riding on the rollercoaster can stay relaxed, non-committal, or unconcerned.

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What exactly is Eustress?

Not many of us have heard about 'Eustress'. This was a term coined by Hans Selye in 1982, to indicate good stress. Eustress gives us a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction. It is a positive state of stress that leads to emotions like joy. This stress is pleasurable and not painful.

Some examples of Eustress are attending a friend’s or a close relative’s marriage ceremony, celebrating a birthday function, going on a trip, trekking expedition, consuming tasteful food, hosting a party, social drinking with friends, celebrating festivals, meeting a friend after several years, seeing an entertaining movie, listening to heartful music, witnessing a dance performance, throwing a good performance, winning a competition, playing music, writing, reading, etc.

Simple day-to-day activities like walking, jogging running, swimming, playing games and sports, singing, dancing, exercising, doing yoga and meditation, wearing dresses or jewelry, can also increase our positive feelings.

Aspiring More

One great characteristic about Eustress is, that whichever activity gives us pleasure, we continue to repeat it. The repetition may not be as revitalizing as the first time, but we continue to engage in these tasks, hoping to get the same experience as in the beginning. Nevertheless, these experiences are quite pleasant when compared to distressful events.

In all these situations, there is a considerable amount of stress but because we are enjoying the experience, we feel invigorated and not exhausted or fatigued.

In case our consciousness is disturbed for some reason or the other, our enjoyment may be curtailed. For instance, let us say you are a singer. You are singing for your satisfaction. However, either due to someone’s pressure or your desire, the moment you enter a singing competition, your Eustress may turn into distress. You will be more concerned about your performance rather than your satisfaction.

Tensionless State?

We always hope that we leave everything behind and get into a place where there are no tensions!

Can we live without tension for even a few minutes?

Imagine a contented individual!

Photo by Samuel Theo Manat Silitonga from Pexels

As it appears, he is enjoying the scenic beauty. But how long can anyone stay in such a peaceful environment?

Within just a few minutes, he gets bored standing and looking at the water and sky. He would like to sit and enjoy the view. After some time, the level of satisfaction keeps waning.

We need other things to increase our level of satisfaction. So, we take with us our camera to capture nature's beauty, our book to read a few passages, our tiffin box to munch a little, our friends and family to exchange a few pleasantries, and so on!

It is not only the physical things we carry with us but our thoughts and emotions. The moment we are happy for a few minutes, plenty of thoughts come to us. We remember things that are both pleasant and unpleasant. We experience distinct emotions that last long.

Imbalance is the key!

However, we want imbalance! We plan to have an imbalance. We prepare ourselves to face the imbalance.

If we are given a chance to live happily ever after, we get bored within a few seconds!

Our purpose in life is to keep introducing imbalance when there is a state of equilibrium in us and strive to restore equilibrium whenever there is imbalance.

And hence, we are under stress all the time

either disturbing balance or restoring balance

Joyfulness is temporary

Consider the case of coffee drinkers. They start drinking coffee to reduce their tensions in life. Gradually, they increase drinking the number of coffee cups. Even when so many cups of coffee do not give them satisfaction, they may start smoking to accompany their coffee consumption.

Next, smoking may become an addiction, and they may start feeling distressed whenever they smoke. To ward off this, they may get into drinking alcohol. Over time, they get intoxicated and this leads to an unpleasant feeling of vomiting or hangover. To reduce this feeling, they would like to drive their vehicle fast to get a kick out of speeding.

When this becomes stale, they may start drug abuse. However, they continue to keep all their previous addictions along with the new ones and finally, they are unable to manage themselves.

Thus, pleasantness doesn’t stay long.

Seeking Change

Life is like sitting on a swing. No one likes to sit on a swing motionless. At some point in time, we want to tilt the balance and when the imbalance is too much to bear, we would like to stop it and restore the balance.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels

And we keep playing the swing all our life.

The moment another person is involved, we switch over to the seesaw and keep tilting the balance, never allowing the other person to stay unmoving.

Photo by Ashish Rangwala from Pexels

When several people are involved, we play merry-go-round. No one would like to sit or stand when the carousel is not operational. We know we are not going anywhere, but we would like to keep thinking that something meaningful is going on.

Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels

Seeking Happiness

We are bored with our normal lives and hate our distressful conditions. We crave happiness. This is why people spend a lot of money, time, and resources on movies and serials, games and sports, food and drinks, etc.

Whenever we talk about celebration, enjoyment, merriment, entertainment, etc., we are saying that we would like to break the equilibrium. And increase our positive stress levels.

Irrespective of how much we move out of neutrality, we return to it and restore our Neustress.

Thus, life means stress. With stress, we feel alive. And with Eustress, we feel happy, and the cycle goes on.

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