According to conventional wisdom, stress is to be avoided if at all possible. But it cannot be. And even if it were, its avoidance would probably be calamitous to the individual and to society. The need is not for stress evasion but for effective ways of coping with stress. There is growing conviction among many investigators that how people cope with stress is far more important than the frequency and severity of stress episodes.
Some people cope remarkably well-almost as if by instinct.
Stress is neither good nor bad in itself. The effects of stress are not determined by stress itself, but by how we view and handle the stress, by how we appraise and adapt to an event. However much the stress of executive work is . . . It is how one reacts to the stress. You can, indeed, learn to cope.