In the last few weeks, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed. Constant travel, an erratic schedule, and changes to face. A whirlwind of emotions, words, hugs, and new stimuli.
While I was trying to find a balance between pleasure and exhaustion, I was reminded of a book I read a few months ago: The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal. The author, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, offers an innovative and counter-current view compared to the common narrative about stress. Instead of seeing it exclusively as an enemy to be eliminated, she argues that the way we think about stress can change its effects on our bodies and minds.
Thinking back to this book, I remembered that the way we interpret what happens to us, or what we are about to face, can transform the effect it has on us.
When you run, for example, that strain that tightens your chest or makes your legs tremble is proof that your body is alive, present, responsive, and rising to a challenge.
The difference in which physiological responses your body will activate lies in what you tell yourself and think while experiencing those sensations.
We’ve Misunderstood Stress
When we talk about stress, we immediately think of shortness of breath, anxiety, agitation, that paralyzing grip on our chest—but those symptoms are nothing more than signs of anxiety, fear, or worry. Real, genuine stress is something else entirely.
Stress is a natural physiological response. It’s the mechanism that activates the “fight or flight” response we share with all animals, which has allowed us to survive for millennia.
Without stress, we wouldn’t get up with the alarm in the morning, we wouldn’t go out for a run, we wouldn’t face challenges. Without the stress giving me the impulse to “re-act,” I never would have packed my bags to move abroad and change my life.
So why do we so desperately try to avoid it?
Eustress vs. Distress
When stress exceeds a certain threshold or goes on for too long without a break, it becomes toxic. But in the right doses, it’s precious fuel. It pushes us to act, solve problems, and be creative. It gets us out for a run even when it’s cold or dark.
In psychology, the good side of stress is called eustress. It’s the physiological activation that prepares you and gets you ready. It activates the body and mind, improves concentration, and boosts performance. It’s what you feel before a race: adrenaline, focus, readiness.
It doesn’t paralyze you. It fires you up.
Unlike distress, which arises when we perceive something as an unmanageable threat, eustress is like a flame that keeps the fire burning: the one that makes you feel alive, capable, and ready to give your best.
It’s Always a Matter of Balance
If you’re a runner, you know this well: you need the right amount of pressure to perform at your best.
Too much and you break down; too little and you go nowhere.
Training is a continuous dance between load and recovery, between stimulus and adaptation. The body improves precisely in response to a challenge. The mind works the same way: it adapts, grows, and strengthens every time you put it to the test.
The problem isn’t “having stress,” but understanding what kind of stress we’re experiencing and how we’re interpreting it.
When you perceive a situation as a manageable challenge, stress works for you. When you experience it as an unmanageable threat, the same mechanism becomes a hindrance.
How Stress Really Works
Every time we face a race, a tough workout, or even just a heavy day, the brain makes a split-second dual assessment:
How difficult is what’s ahead of me?
Do I have the resources to handle it?
If the perceived demand is greater than the resources you think you have, distress kicks in.
If, instead, you feel ready, motivated, and competent, that same stress becomes a tool.
It’s not just about how many miles you have in your legs or how trained you are; it’s mostly about how you interpret what is happening to you. You can be in great physical shape, but if you feel unprepared or under scrutiny, your body will react as if you were in real danger.
How you experience fatigue, how much confidence you have in your abilities, how you talk to yourself during a climb or in moments of crisis—all of this can radically change your experience and your performance.
The good news? Our response to what happens to us can be trained.
Train Your Response to Stress
Instead of fighting or ignoring it, try to have a dialogue with your stress.
Ask yourself: is this situation truly a threat, or is it just a difficult challenge?
Cultivate confidence in your resources: testing yourself is the best way to discover that you can do it.
Practice listening: what is this tension you feel really asking of you? Is there something you are exaggerating or interpreting as more threatening than it is? What can you do to manage the situation?
The other day, for example, I found myself with an endless to-do list, overlapping meetings, and a growing sense of panic. Instead of sinking into anxiety, I stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and asked myself, “What is the most important thing I can do right now?” I chose a single task, completed it, and then moved on to the next. By focusing on one step at a time, I turned an insurmountable mountain into a series of manageable tasks. Stress, instead of blocking me, became the push to find clarity and act effectively.
So, the next time you feel that knot in your stomach, those tense muscles, or that sudden irritation, remember that how you interpret what’s happening determines what you can do. You are not at the mercy of stress; you are an active participant in reinterpreting and transforming that pressure into energy.
Laura Burzi