Is Stress Helpful?

Abha Agarwal. Counselling Psychologist

I am often asked this question: why does anxiety happen? Is it really helpful?

Imagine leading a life with no worries, stress: just a plain simple life of working, eating, going to sleep and waking up in the morning. This is a perfect life that we all wish for. But this is just a wish. This kind of life doesn’t give any opportunities to grow in life, learn anything new and in no ways provide a challenge to self. It leaves no scope for genuine growth.

We, as human beings, are allowed to think creatively and lots of ideas come to us. Our brain tries to defend any kind of new idea as we are not prepared to deal with it. But, we know, in order to survive in this world, we need to come up with new concepts. So, any kind of growth creates a certain discomfort and this when worries come up.

It is a fact that in order to live and survive worries, fears and anxieties come up. But, we need this anxiety to work for us and not against us. That is what really matters.

Students gives their hundred percent when the exam starts approaching. They know this time period cannot be ignored. This small push because of worry and a slight anxiety helps them to perform better during exams. But, on the hindsight, if a student cannot perform due to extreme anxiety, then the situation goes against us. 

So some stress is helpful in short term because they help us focus on the solutions of the problem at hand and also prepare us for the future. But, if we stress symptoms keep continuing for a long time, it becomes chronic and our performance, our ability to cope begins to deteriorate.

We grow in life when we face some adverse situations. If we are too calm or relaxed, we cannot get our minds and bodies into action. For e.g., on Sundays’, ehen there is no work, everybody just want to relax and have a good time. No one wants to be bothered. The day of Monday puts us into action.

Sometimes, we need stress, in simpler form, to activate us. But, as mentioned earlier, chronic stress can lead to many problems if not tackled at the right time.

Sharing your issues with a psychologist will help you gain clarity about the problem and you will learn coping abilities to deal with your issues in a better way.

(Ms. Abha Agarwal is a Counselling Psychologist based in Siliguri with over 14 years of experience. She deals with issues related to anxiety, stress, relationship issues, parent-child-family relationship, behavioural concerns in children/teens, mobile addiction. Contact: 9733217536. Online consultations available. FB profile: Counseling.Psychologist.Siliguri/ Instagram profile: abha_counselling_psychologist/)