Stress doesn’t have to be a negative thing
I want to talk about stress. It’s a huge topic, I know - you could write a book about it. Since I'm not doing that, I’m concentrating on one point that has become particularly important to me over the years since my career ended: That stress isn’t all bad.
I have the impression that stress is perceived almost exclusively negatively in public discussions. This is understandable at first glance: there are countless causes of stress, often with disastrous consequences - including for society. In Switzerland alone, it is estimated that the consequential costs of workplace stress for the health system amount to several billion francs – per year!
But there is one important difference.
Put simply, stress is the body’s physical and psychological response to an external stimulus: a sports competition, an exam, a job interview. Stress helps us to overcome that exceptional challenge. From an evolutionary point of view, stress is a survival mechanism. Stress makes us stronger. This is referred to as positive or acute stress. It increases awareness and promotes maximum performance of the body, but is not harmful.
Stress is problematic when it becomes chronic. For example, if you can no longer sleep for weeks before the interview. Or if your life has so many acute challenges that you will never be able to reduce your stress level before the next increase in stress follows. Or if you are seriously ill, have a painful separation, or have lost someone important.
There are many ways to deal with stress. I’m sure you can figure out what my preferred strategy is: sport. But more on that in my next blog post.
