Skip to content

Jayne Hardy

  • About
  • My Work
  • Get in touch
  • About
  • My Work
  • Get in touch
The Difference Between Stress And Anxiety
Everything Else

The Difference Between Stress And Anxiety

17th May 202324th May 2023 Leave a comment
*This is a reader-supported website. When you purchase products and services through links here, we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.*

This is a reader-supported website. When you purchase products and services through links here, we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.

This post is an extract from my book ‘Everything I Wish I’d Known About Stress: A Hopeful Toolkit’, available to purchase from me, Amazon, Waterstones, and other local bookshops


Stress And Anxiety Are Not The Same Thing

Many of the emotional and physical symptoms of stress and anxiety are the same and quite often they’re used interchangeably because, they’re so similar and hard to tell apart that they’re like identical twins. In fact, when trying to describe the sensation of stress, we are also describing the sensation of anxiety.

Medically, the term ‘stress’ per se is used to describe acute stress: that bolt of stress we experience for a short period of time until the threat has been adequately dealt with. Is’s also the gearing up in preparation to handle something that’s arisen or is just coming up. Stress typically has an external stressor, some specific external factor that acts as a trigger to activate the stress response. When we’re stressed, we usually know what has caused us to be stressed, we can identify the reasons.

The Difference Between Stress And Anxiety Share on X

Anxiety, however, doesn’t always have an obviously identifiable trigger, and the trigger is typically internal, generated by excessive thoughts, rather than external, although stress, too, can trigger anxiety. If, once the external stressor has passed, we’re still experiencing distress, overthinking, self-judgement, rumination, and overwhelm, then that’s more likely anxiety. When we’re feeling relenting apprehension and worry about something that’s not yet happened, about things that might occur, then there’s usually anxiety present as well.


A BOOK OF TWO HALVES…

When we’re feeling stressed, we’re already buckling beneath the weight of it all. The last thing we need is a tome to add to the pile of burdens we’re already carrying. We need effective solutions and we need them quickly.

The first part of the book is full of all of the things I wish I’d known about stress; that there’s such a thing as good stress, that there are five stress responses – not just fight and flight, how stress is contagious and how it affects our executive functioning, to name a few. These are bite-sized dollops of information. This section underpins the ‘why’ of the things we might ‘try’, which form the basis of the second part of the book.

Part two is the toolkit – head there first if you need guidance ASAP. It’ll meet you right where you are and hold your hand right through it. Perhaps you’re in the thick of it and need quick-acting stress-relieving tools to calm and ground you. Maybe you’re in the aftermath, feeling a bit thrown and needing to express what you’ve been through. There are techniques for building resilience to stress, identifying stressors, and suggestions aplenty of things we can do to promote healing.

Buy the book: from me // Amazon // Waterstones // Local Bookshops

🥰 Sharing is caring: please share this post with anyone it might help.

anxietyjayne hardysigns of stressstressstress bookstressorssymptoms

Related Posts

How We Handle Eczema Flare-Ups In Our House
How We Handle Eczema Flare-Ups In Our House
Mind + Body: The Physical Toll of Chronic Stress
Mind + Body: The Physical Toll of Chronic Stress
Self-Care For When We’re Empty And Have Nothing Left To Give
Self-Care For When We’re Empty And Have Nothing Left To Give

Post navigation

A Compassionate Guide To Ditching Self-Doubt
Leaving Instagram: How It’s Been 12 Days In
*waves hello*

*waves hello*

I'm Jayne

A word-y, blanket-loving, hot drink-guzzling, Wordle-playing, creative who has written a book or two*.

*(five, we're on book five.)

CATEGORIES

  • DIY Projects + Crafts
  • Everything Else
  • Writing

YOU MIGHT LIKE:

DIY Projects + Crafts ➤ 21st September 2023

THE Fatigue-Fighting Blueberry Smoothie

I'm so happy with this recipe because I ended up with a delicious, creamy, satisfying, well-balanced, energy-boosting concoction. The combination of antioxidants, natural sugars, healthy fats, fibre, and essential nutrients from these ingredients seems to have helped me to combat both physical and mental fatigue. Because I'm at 'that age' where fatigue is a thing with all of the hormonal changes, I wanted to share this recipe with anyone who may find themselves in the same boat.

Read More
Everything Else ➤ 19th April 2024

Interesting Things I Found On The Internet This Week

Gosh, how lucky we are to live in an age where everything we want to know and learn is available on the internet at the tippity-tap of our fingertips?! When I think of all of the questions I used to ask my mum was I was younger and how difficult it must have been for her to get access to the answers she didn't know compared with how easily we just 'look things up' now... This week, I came across a few really cool and interesting things on the internet. Some of them, sososo helpful, that I couldn't help but want to share. So, here we are!

Read More
Writing ➤ 30th May 2023

The Two Reasons I Gave Self-Publishing A Go

My first four books were traditionally published. Between them, they sold over 60,000 copies. It was a dream come true. So, why then give self-publishing a go? There were two reasons.

Read More
Everything Else ➤ 26th June 2023

Mind + Body: The Physical Toll of Chronic Stress

We’ve all heard the term ‘bottled up’ used to describe when someone might suppress, mask, or refrain from showing their feelings. It turns out that we can literally bottle up our emotions by storing them within our bodies.

Read More
Writing ➤ 26th March 2024

Body-Doubling For When You’re Struggling to Focus OR Get Started On Tasks

You know how you hear about something new and then you hear about the same thing a few more times before you really take note? I was the same with Schitt's Creek and in more recent times, body-doubling. The term 'body-doubling' is one I've only just learned about but it's a notion I recognise as a mechanism I've used as far as I can remember to focus and get started on things.

Read More
Everything Else ➤ 31st March 2023

A Compassionate Guide To Ditching Self-Doubt

*This is a reader-supported website. When you purchase products and services through links here, we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.* Those sneaky and persistent feelings of self-doubt and limiting...

Read More
Everything Else ➤ 17th January 2025

Here’s How To ‘Bionic Read’ On Amazon Kindle

*This is a reader-supported website. When you purchase products and services through links here, we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.* My Kindle is one of my favourite and most-used...

Read More
Writing ➤ 4th April 2023

Getting to Know Yourself: Journal Prompts for Self-Reflection and Growth

*This is a reader-supported website. When you purchase products and services through links here, we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.* Life can be all go-go-go; busy, overwhelming, full to...

Read More
DIY Projects + Crafts ➤ 6th December 2024

My ‘With A Little Something-Something’ Christmas Cranberry Sauce

*This is a reader-supported website. When you purchase products and services through links here, we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.* This cranberry sauce recipe of mine has stood the...

Read More
Everything Else ➤ 1st March 2024

What Athletes Teach Us About Goal-Setting And Goal-Getting

The frameworks athletes build around a central overriding goal are fascinating. And, replicable. That's the bit I find so juicy; we can all build support systems, carefully curated routines, and take care of ourselves in optimum ways.

Read More
  • My account
  • Get in touch
  • Privacy Notice
© 2025 | Floe Publishing Ltd