The stress reservoir

Perhaps the most important finding of modern research on stress is that this stress is that this stress is cumulative, because it is all in one currency. Stress from money worries, stress from physical pain, stress from an unresolved argument, stress from light shining in one’s eyes — it is all stress, and it is all one kind of stress. So each of these apparently disparate stress effects fills the same stress reservoir.

Almost any unresolved problems, even when small, adds to the reservoir of stress, and can reduce a person’s ability to function well. So long as challenges faced are within the limits of the stress reservoir, a person is actively solving problems, and becomes more alive, more capable, more rewarded in the process of meeting the challenges. When the stress reservoir fills to impossible levels, the effect is opposite, and the accumulated stress prevents productivity, prevents loving relationships, prevents artistic and intellectual creativity, prevents people from being effective.

#book/The Nature of Order/1 The Phenomenon of Life/10 The impact of living structure on human life#