Anxiety? Places to start.

What's the difference between 'stress' and 'anxiety'?  Are they both bad for us?  Or is a little bit of stress sometimes helpful -- like that needed shot of adrenalin that gets us off and running when there's something we really want and need to do?

There's lots of research on the effects of stress and anxiety.  Stress is inevitable for most of us these days, and research is showing that it's not the stress itself that's unhealthy.  But it's how we react -- or respond -- that can turn the stress of a deadline into either a helpful motivator, or a debilitating problem.  

Here's a way to understand the difference:  Stress is what we experience when we're facing an imminent, challenging situation, in the present.  Anxiety is the longer-lasting worry or perseveration we can sink into, even after the stressful event is behind us and we're stuck in worry cycles about what might happen in the future.

This recently appeared in some Psychology Today and contains some tried and true options.  
Click here for some great ideas to try for unwinding from that stuck place!