Most of us equate the word stress with distress. We are overwhelmed, besieged, depressed. It happens a lot around this time of year. Too much to do, not enough time to do it in – and, more often than not – not enough money to do it with. It can take the joy out of life.

Eustress is stress of another kind. It is happy stress, the kind we experience when we are doing something exciting, something we want to do, but that also adds to our responsibilities. A new job, a new project, a promotion, these all create eustress. Joyful stress, and again, there is a lot of that going around this time of year.