To think stress is pointless because it never actually solves anything?

[ThisFirmPoet]

I know stress is a natural reaction, but when you think about it, what does it actually achieve? Worrying and overthinking don’t change the outcome of a situation, and most of the time, things either work out or they don’t, regardless of how much stress we put ourselves through.

Obviously, some pressure can push people to be productive, but beyond a certain point, it just feels like a waste of energy. So AIBU to think that stress is basically pointless or do people find it useful in some way?

Good point. I've stopped being stressed since I read this.

I agree that we need pressure to do things but when that pressure becomes relentless then It can become stress which isn’t helpful and if that goes unresolved it becomes poor mental health. I suppose
some situations skip the pressure stage and take you to a stress response and I avoid these when I can!

YANBU stress is pointless, sack things that cause stress off I say 😂

I try and think like this. My mum always told me that worrying doesn't make any money so I try as much as possible not to stress about that. I try and apply the same principle to everything else that is beyond my control to fix.

There's two types of stressing to me though. One is rumination and going over and over the same thing. That, I try and keep under control. Because it doesn't fix anything. The other type is physical anxiety. I am not in control of that so that kind can't be switched on and off.

In short bursts - it does what it's supposed to - give you kick to run away or complete a task.

Chronic stress - prolonged stress going on weeks of months - is know to cause menatl and physical illnesses.

I think over thinking isn't stress a such though it can add to anxierty and stress - but sometimes thinking thoughly can present new ways forward - also you can realise you are doing it and take some kind of action to stop.

Some life stresses you can get away from - make changes in your life to cope with or remove yourself from - others your stuck with till something else happens. Over evolutionary time scale probably easy as hunter gather to get away from stress causing situations - than in modern more settled society.

I don’t think people who are stressed are choosing to be so because they think it’s productive.

My MIL doesn't worry or stress at all - just means FIL or us have to pick up the peices when things go wrong often forseeable ways or in FIL case do the worry by himself.

https://images.app.goo.gl/vCSA

Stress performance curve (see linked image) is always the way I think about this. You need enough stress to be productive but not so much that you're over tired/panicking.

Some people do act like it's productive. One of my relatives seems to think she can prevent bad things happening if she commits enough time and energy to stressing about them.

This is probably really irritating to deal with irl, but your comment made me laugh! 😆

Manageable stress motivates people to do the work to enable themselves to achieve what they want to, or to take action to avoid undesirable outcomes.

There was a really interesting series on Radio 4 called The Power of Negative Thinking on radio 4 which touched on this and related issues.

You clearly do not understand what stress it. Stress is not just worrying.

The personal has little control over it, and it can make a person really ill. My uncle had a nervous breakdown. I wish I’d known at the time just to tell him to stop worrying.

I think it’s a balance.. some stress is good, to motivate us, inspire, make changes, recognise the gravity of a situation.. and I believe it’s good to feel every emotion. But not to feel it constantly as yes that then becomes a negative on the body and mind. Stress kills.

Exactly this.

I agree that getting stressed about everything or continued stress is unhelpful, but equally being completely horizontal is probably infuriating for everyone else.

That isn’t stress, it’s worrying

That's how I feel about hope.

It keeps people trapped in crap situations instead of taking action to improve their lives - e.g. hoping they'll win the lottery instead of taking an evening class to improve their employment prospects.

It's an evolutionary hangover. It's very very helpful to solve an immediate problem like running away from a tiger or to provide impetus to go and hunt for food etc.

Unfortunately very few of the causes of stress these days are that immediately solvable these days, so it just leads to us ruminating pointlessly on our issues.

Give it another few hundred thousand years and we might have evolved out of it.

I think you kind of have to think about it as if you were a caveman.

Worried about a sabre tooth tiger eating the kids - makes you vigilant and perhaps hyper aware. Excellent.

Everyone's starving so stress gives you the oomph to give 110% to hunting that mammoth. Great.

When it's stress because Bob hasn't completed the monthly board presentation with 3 days to go. Again. It's a bit less helpful.

Maybe in 50,000 years we might have caught up with ourselves a bit? Or we'll have a perfect low level stress management thing going on and we'll be irritated because it's a nightmare during FTL space travel or something.

X post! How bizarre we both thought of tigers! 😂

Worrying about things can help if it is diverted into planning for what happens in case of X,Y and Z.

i plan like this and while it can be excessive it’s helped me out on a number of occasions.

Haha, Terry Pratchett fans obviously think alike!

I agree with this.

Its the (very few) times that I haven't worried and planned and just thought, ' Oh it will be alright' that things have gone to crap.

Well the OP mentioned stress, worrying and overthinking so I commented. If that's ok with you!

This particular relative experiences physical symptoms of stress all the time if not pandered to - palpitations being the main one.

That's interesting. I once heard a speaker say that abandoning hope can be a really important and beneficial psychological state to get to.

Be like Elsa - Let It Go-o-o, let it go!