First Stop: Identify pretravel stress conditions and understand positive and negative stress by using your stress thermometer.

By John C. Turpin © 1991 Covenant Communications, Inc.

         A speaker wanted the audience to understand the difference between negative and positive stress. To make his point, he asked: "How many of you would like to get rid of all of your stress?" Most of the audience raised their hands. He then asked: "What is a person called when he has no stress?" The audience did not respond. "Dead!" he replied.
        Those listening changed their minds about getting rid of all their stress! However, they did learn how to get rid of negative stress. If you want to learn to reduce your stress, it is important to understand the difference between negative and positive stress.
        The stress thermometer on the following page illustrates the relationship between positive and negative stress. At the bottom of the thermometer is zero stress or not being alive. Perhaps when you get up in the morning, you are not much above this point. Then as you "get going," your stress level slowly rises. The initial stress of the day is positive stress, so you become more alert, more alive, and more effective until you reach the warning line.
        Your body knows when your stress level reaches the warning line before your conscious mind is aware of it. As you cross the warning line into negative stress, your body warns you. Since your body cannot speak to you in words, it speaks to you with a physical symptom such as a headache. But you have been taught to medicate your symptoms, to tell your body to be quiet, and so your body must give you a stronger symptom. With each new symptom, your body speaks louder and louder. If you continue to ignore the symptoms, you may reach the top of the thermometer with a severe symptom, such as a nervous breakdown, severe depression, heart attack, or stroke.

The Stress Thermometer

Do Not Run Faster Than You Have Strength
        The Lord has given counsel to help you avoid the top of the stress thermometer: "Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength" (D&C 10:4) and "it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength." (Mosiah 4:27.)
        Learning to follow these scriptures can help you avoid moving too far up the stress thermometer. You can learn to take care of yourself so you can serve the Lord both now and later in life. You will do this better if you remember the huge clipper ships with the big sails. Suppose you were a sailor on such a ship and were given the assignment to scrub the deck in rough weather. You would learn the clipper ship slogan, "One hand for yourself and one hand for the ship." If you used both hands to scrub the ship, you would wind up in the water with the sharks. If, however, you hung on with both hands, you would get nothing done. To scrub the deck, you must learn to use one hand to take care of yourself while the other hand gets the job done. The same formula applies to avoiding high stress.
        A friend who suffered a heart attack while working full-time for the Church learned a valuable lesson. He had been working too hard and he was lucky to survive the heart attack, but when he eventually made it back to work, his supervisor said: "You must learn to take care of yourself If you do not, the Lord will have lost another profitable servant." He learned to follow the scriptures quoted earlier and now believes what Wayne Dyer said: "If you don't take time for health, you will have to take time for illness."
        Even prophets must learn this. Perhaps the Prophet Joseph Smith, when he was given the assignment from the Lord to translate the Book of Mormon, felt inclined to work too hard on it, and the Lord, knowing this, gave him the counsel quoted above from D&C 10:4.
        Sometimes we all must stay up late, skip a meal, or work too hard because of a sick child, a report due, or some other pressing need, but we can learn to take care of ourselves in the long run as the Lord has directed.

Definition of Stress
        Charles Beckert said: "Stress is the body's reaction to the demands of life. Stress causes muscles and minds to grow and function more efficiently. Stress keeps us alive, but distress is excessive stress, it's an overload. In fact, much of what we talk about as stress is distress". Another source defines stress as: a physiological response to a perceived threat. When you perceive something as threatening, your nervous system responds by translating that feeling into increased tension, blood pressure, and heart rate. If the same event is perceived positively, you have less stress. How you feel about what you see and experience can determine your stress level.

Understanding Your Stress Response
        When in danger, your body can actually help protect or save your life. If you are crossing the street and see a car coming toward you, your body responds quickly to enable you to move faster than normal. Your adrenal gland produces adrenaline so you can be almost superhuman. This can be not only helpful but lifesaving, as in the case where a grandmother lifted a car off her grandson and saved his life.
        But if you constantly feel threatened, your body responds in the same intense way to a danger that isn't there. It isn't healthful to always be so physically "prepared" because it can wear you out so that you suffer physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Your Body is Stupid from the Neck Down
        Have you ever awakened from a frightening dream with your heart racing? Your body responds in that way because it is stupid from the neck down. For example, if you dream that a bear is chasing you, your body responds in the same way it would if a real bear were after you. Whenever you are afraid, regardless of how unnecessary the fear, your body reacts. Your body does not know the difference between a real and an imagined event. 
        Joyce learned this the hard way during a visit to her allergist. The allergist had some beautiful flowers on his desk. Upon seeing them, Joyce experienced an extremely strong allergic reaction. After recovering, she complained to him about leaving flowers on his desk knowing of her allergy to them. His response startled her: "They are only silk flowers." She had told her nervous system they were real flowers, and her nervous system, not knowing a real event from an imagined one, responded as if they were real flowers.

You Can Learn to Set Limits
        Setting limits means learning to avoid having too much going on in your life. Trying to meet too many demands can drain you to the point of exhaustion. Learning to set limits can greatly reduce stress and help you deal better with feelings. Not setting limits can cause you to lose touch with both his own feelings and the Spirit of the Lord. Some people keep busy to avoid dealing with negative feelings or to run from pain or guilt. For others, setting limits is very difficult because keeping busy has become a part of their lifestyle. You can even come to believe that living high on the stress thermometer is righteous, necessary or normal for you. It is not. You risk exhaustion and other physical, emotional, or spiritual difficulties. The Spirit prompts you when you are trying to do too much. Losing the Spirit can simply be a symptom of being too busy for too long.
        For instance, Phyllis believed she should give her all to the Church, her associates, and to her family all the time. She felt it was selfish to take time to meet her own needs. She gave so much and became so burned out that she grew to resent her family members and the Church. She drew far away from the Lord and resented the Church because she saw it as the cause of her burnout.
        We can all learn from Phyllis painful experience that it is possible to become so exhausted from not taking care of ourselves that we can even lose all desire to serve or stay active in the Lord's church.
        When stress is too high on the stress thermometer, a minor request can be perceived as a great burden. When a person feels overwhelmed, good feelings and testimony are often covered by negative feelings. When the stress is reduced and new coping skills are learned, the good feelings often return even stronger.

Symptoms of High Stress
        Here are some symptoms that your stress may be too high: (Some symptoms may belong under more than one category. For instance, many emotional symptoms are also spiritual symptoms).

 Physical Symptoms: