While reading about firearm safety, I came across this definition of stress…

“Stress is the state of not believing you have the resources to handle a situation.“

I found this to be a thoughtful insight about the feeling of being off-balance and under some duress.

From a different angle, in chemistry, Le Chȃtelier’s principle is all about nature’s physical response in the face of stress.

When a set of reactive gases trapped in a closed container are at equilibrium, introducing additional gas molecules prompts chemical reactions needed to produce a new state of equilibrium in order to reduce the stress.

Simply put, nature wants to restore equilibrium – any excursion from a settled state by changing one or more of the components prompts a reaction to strike a new equilibrium. This is nature’s way of handling stress.

It’s similar to how hormesis produces changes in biological systems in response to stressors – whether the stress is too much or too little to bring about a new healthy state is a separate matter.

Interesting tangential point: A catalyst, which would normally increase the rate of a reaction, will have no effect if a system were already at equilibrium. There is no reaction underway, so there is no process to affect. Catalysts only affect systems that are not already in equilibrium.

So, if you feel the urge to be a catalyst for change but are concerned as to whether the change would be for the better, perhaps there’s no need for concern… if the situation at hand is already in balance, your efforts would have no measurable effect anyhow.

And if you’re stressed about change – fearing you lack the resources to handle the situation – not to worry… because if things are currently at a decent equilibrium, there won’t likely be any meaningful change anyhow. Chill.