If the body is surprised or alarmed from an outside stimulus, the body s startle system is triggered. What is relaxing to one person may be stressful to another. Stress comes in all shapes and sizes, and has become so pervasive, that it seems to permeate everything and everybody . Stress is an unavoidable consequence of life. Without stress, there would be no life .
Stress is an ever-present reality.
It hits you in the face, or the gut, or wherever you happen to feel it, often enough. It s real for you, and that s all that counts. We have given that urgency a name. Because we, as a society, have legitimized stress. First we gave it a name.