Eu Stressed?

I see so many people who are stressed beyond belief–and it’s not the good kind of stress either. I’m talking about the one where you feel like your eyeballs popping out and you feel the urge to pull your hair out.

Believe it or not, there’s a type of stress that could actually be good for you–it’s called eustress. Ever heard of it?

If this is the first time you’re encountering this term, eustress, it’s considered “beneficial stress” that you could get from physical or psychological activities, and so on.

Eustress was coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye, consisting of the Greek prefix “eu-” meaning “good,” combined with “stress.” So it literally means “good stress.”

Basically, eustress is believed to be capable of strengthening the body’s immune system. This will help us cope with stress better, as well as excel under pressure and actually desire the feeling of being under pressure. I know, it’s so weird to read this when you’re always feeling high amounts of negative stress, but trust me on this.

I’m convinced that the greatest way to alleviate negative stress is to have a sense of purpose and create commitments and challenges in your life. By creating goals/challenges that will help you stretch to achieve your accomplishments, you can also strategically do so that at the same time you’re creating a life with a purpose and legacy by chasing after worthy, purpose driven goals.

My life is crazy (an understatement) at the moment because of so many activities and commitments. But here is a little peek into my busy life and the challenges I’ve faced, and are about to face, in the first couple of months of next year:

● Daily chaos of running multiple businesses
● Having 20+ construction and flip projects going on
● Building New Houses
● Launched a new company, Property Management
● Weekly coaching calls and training with my students
● running Breakthrough at the Beach Live Events
● Training for an Ironman
● Competing in CrossFit Open (FYI: My ranking reached the top 15 percent in the world for my age group)
● Going to a SealFit training in California next week
● Relocating Office
● Hired/trained new staff
● Attended week-long business training out of town
● Spending two-weekend getaways with my wife
● Planning more family experiences (we’re already having the third one this weekend)

And, if you haven’t heard me talk about my F4 Commitment: I’ve made a pledge to invest my time daily to grow my Faith, Family, Fitness and Finances and have honored this commitment to ensure that I strengthen my relationships in these core areas of life on a daily basis. I’ve also started exercising, journaling, and meditating* every single day this year. (*almost daily)

Despite having doing all these activities I mentioned, plus plenty other plans, I don’t feel down or tired. In fact, I feel alive! The stress I experience most of the time is what drives me, not slows me down, this is Eustress.

I’m not going to lie, it can become overwhelming at times. But after I push away some of that initial resistance, I gain strength, power, and energy from it. Eustress is legit.
So I write all of this to have you consider this not to brag or boast, nor to impress, but rather to impress this upon you: If you are feeling stressed and burned out, perhaps you are not pushing hard enough in your life’s pursuits? Find the things that excite you and bring you closer to fulfilling your desires in order to create a legacy that you will be proud of.

Take this as your personal reminder when you’re experiencing any form of stress, burnout, or fatigue to drop the stress and seek out the Eustress.

All the best,
Brant