Ask Joy: The stress of it all

By April Bradford

Apr 10, 2025
Replies 2

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Note from the Editor:
This article was kindly written for the SDC by retired psychologist/ member @Joy Straw.

‘When confronted with devastating news stories or the shock of a serious illness, we can be triggered into a wide range of reactions. Finding a way to initially reassure ourselves is very important.’ This was written earlier in an article about R U OK?. This article is about the stress we are all currently going through.

Stress comes in a variety of ways, from the election to our finances and the cost of living, Trump's tariffs, worrying about our children/grandchildren, and even our own health.

Just stop to think about these things. Try and observe how you actually feel when you see things written down like this or in the media. Many people will simply say it’s a fact of life, and we have to live with it. Others will go into a tailspin and feel the world is out of control. Most of us will be somewhere in the middle.

How we react to the stresses in our lives has a substantial effect on our mental and physical health.

When does stress become a problem?
We all experience stress in our lives. Getting up in the morning and feeling stiff, worried about what the day has ahead, stressed about work, worried about the grandkids/children, general life stresses, and the cost of living are all a variety of stressors that we can experience. When we find we can’t get up in the morning due to stress, when feeling sick on Monday morning about going to work, and constantly worrying about the news on social media, this is when normal stress turns into acute stress and can often lead to anxiety.

A little bit of stress can help us motivate ourselves to new heights or push ourselves further. Too much stress can lead to illness, mental health issues and a range of other issues.

When does stress become too much? Image Credit: Shutterstock

What can be done to regulate the stresses in our lives?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to turn off all media and not be bombarded with all the stress that it brings? That would only reduce some of the stress that we experience but that would be a start. Even simply by reducing the stresses in our life we reduce the effect they have on us.

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