OH! Magazine - Australian Version June 2014 (Australian Version) | Page 25

FIONA COSGROVE wellnesscoachingaustralia.com.au ( Wellness Coaching ) STRESS THE SILENT KILLER OF WELLBEING Fiona Cosgrove explains the detrimental impact stress can have on wellbeing. We have come to accept that in today’s crazy, busy world, stress is just part of the landscape. In fact, it’s almost unheard of to live a care-free life without this urge to drive ourselves further and faster, in search of the ultimate prize of… what? When did you last ask someone, ‘How are you?’ and receive the response ‘Actually, I’m pretty chilled out. Got my life under control. Cruising along.’ Maybe one in 50? 100? We are much more likely to hear something like ‘flat out’ or ‘really busy.’ Or perhaps ‘Got a lot on right now.’ These are the standard responses that seem to justify our existence in today’s world. Being stressed is acceptable, but not admirable! A survey in 2013 commissioned by the Australian Psychological Society, W found that working Australians reported significantly lower levels of wellbeing and significantly higher levels of stress and distress than in the previous two years. What this means is that stress is growing. So we have a problem. Of course, we know that a certain amount of pressure can be a good challenge to get us moving. But when do we move from good pressure to overload, that gradually wears down both our mental and physical health? I would suggest that many of us operate in the red zone – that ‘in between place’ that would only take a slight shove to move us into the danger area where stress adversely affects our quality of life. So where does all this stress come from? Let’s acknowledge that stress is not what happens to us or what is going on in our lives, but more so it’s the way we interpret those events or situations. Let’s t