Are you stressed out? If you are, you’re not alone. According to a 2010 American Psychological Association survey, one-third of American parents are extremely stressed and the majority of Americans are moderately stressed.

Many experience on-going stress from financial need, work demands and the pressures of family life. The challenge of managing stress with healthy habits, such as exercise, less worry, or better eating can leave us worried about the impact stress is having on our health.  However, Howard S. Friedman PhD suggests that when it comes to your health and how long you live, stress is not necessarily all bad.

Have you ever been so angry and stuck in spiteful or resentful thoughts that it seemed to take over your life?

Painful feelings such as anger, are often associated with worries about negative consequences — perhaps that an important goal will be blocked or that you will fail, be criticized, hurt or abandoned.  The intensity of your feelings and worries can leave you stuck in a cycle of angry feelings, with resentment and rage fueled by worry, spiteful thoughts and memories of hurtful experiences.

Or is it?  According to one of the central dialectical tenets of DBT, change is the nature of life.  Everything is in a constant state of change.

I can accept the idea of constant change and see it in the world all around me.  Seasons change, children grow, friendships strengthen or grow more distant.  We move, get older, experience health problems, fall in love, recover from sickness, lose loved ones, graduate from school and so on.

But sometimes those things we most wish to change, seem to stay the same.