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Stress is a small word that’s a big part of everyone’s life.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, overworked, frazzled, burned-out, exasperated, or any other synonym for the myriad of stress-related issues that are a constant companion in the 21st Century, then we have some stress quotes and some informational resources to help you.
Stress is a complicated issue, it’s down to the personal level of how you deal with it, but there are some simple and effective things anyone can use to jump ahead of the strain and struggles of modern life.
Why Stress Quotes Can Help You Breathe Easier
Stress quotes can be enormously helpful for you here, and this is because the way we experience stress in modern societies is very different from what we are evolved to handle.
Every human has something called an “allostatic load” and the best way to understand what “allostatic” means is to envision a stress cup. When this cup gets too full from everyday life stresses, you feel overworked and start having problems.
Humans are evolved to handle very short but intense stress or physical stress that stays within the confines of our stress cup – if you’re being chased by a predator you either escape or you perish. If you’re suffering through a famine you hang around and do what you can to find food.
In the 21st century, we don’t really suffer from these stresses, but a bad boss, loneliness, or an overwhelming pile of work that gives us anxiety every day? These can very easily overwhelm our stress cup and erode our health and quality of life.
The standard human response to stress (flight or fight) doesn’t work for modern stresses and instead, it just wears you out even more. However, fortunately, humans are nearly infinitely adaptable, and this is where stress quotes come in.
Much of the damage that happens because of modern stress is down to how we react to it. Stress quotes can help you develop the mental tools to deal with these complex and novel demands from your environment.
For example – let’s take the stress from a bad boss; you have to look at negotiation skills or create an escape plan. The standard human response (flight or fight) doesn’t work here and just causes health issues.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed then you have to learn how to break your work down into manageable steps, set goals, delegate, and understand what a realistic amount of work you can do each day is.
Your attitude and the skills you develop to face the very new demands of a 21st-century environment will determine how stressed and overwhelmed you feel.
75 Stress Quotes to Feel Calmer and Less Overworked
- “It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” – Bruce Lee
- “This too shall pass.” – Persian Proverb
- “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
- “Every day brings a choice: to practice stress or to practice peace.” – Joan Borysenko
- “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” – Paulo Coelho
- “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago.” – E. Joseph Cossman
- “More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” – Marie Curie
- “Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” – Robert Eliot
- “Even too much sunshine can be devastating, while only with rain can growth occur. Accept both as part of the growing process in the garden of life.” – Donald S. Neviaser
- “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” – Kahlil Gibran
Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “When we commit to action, to actually doing something rather than feeling trapped by events, the stress in our life becomes manageable.” – Greg Anderson
- “Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.” – Mikhail Lermontov
- “We get such a kick out of looking forward to pleasures and rushing ahead to meet them that we can’t slow down to enjoy them when they come.” – Alan Watts
- “Stress is not what happens to us. It’s our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose.” – Maureen Killoran
- “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” – Mary Oliver
- “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. “ – Lily Tomlin
- “When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter in 5 years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.” – Catherine Pulsifer
- “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” – Fred Rogers
- “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” – Winston Churchill
- “Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries.” – Astrid Alauda
Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries.” – Astrid Alauda
- “A good way to overcome stress is to help others out of theirs.” – Dada J. P. Vaswani
- “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.” – Albert Einstein
- “It’s not the load that breaks you dow, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz
- “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.” – Bertrand Russell
- “You’ve got to stay strong to be strong in tough times.” – Tilman J. Fertitta
- “Choose to love each other even in those moments when you struggle to like each other. Love is a commitment, not a feeling.” – Dave Willis
- “If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.” – George Burns
- “Worrying is like a rocking chair. it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” – English proverb
- “Do not listen with the intent to reply. But listen with the intent to understand.” – Stephen R. Covey
- “When you feel overwhelmed, start eliminating all the non-essential things from your life. Clarity brings calm.” – Darius Foroux
- “Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.” – Dr. Robert Anthony
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.” – Dr. Robert Anthony
- “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell
- “The deepest fear we have, “the fear beneath all fears,” is the fear of not measuring up, the fear of judgment. It’s this fear that creates the stress and depression of everyday life.” – Tullian Tchividjian
- “Today expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday. Realize the past no longer holds you captive. It can only continue to hurt you if you hold on to it.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach
- “When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn't healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” – Kim McMillen
- “The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it’s your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can’t package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.” – Wayne Dyer
- “For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – William Shakespeare
- “We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.” – John Newton
- “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Maya Angelou
- “Stress is an important dragon to slay–or at least tame–in your life.” – Marilu Henner
- “Someone is not stressful because of what he is doing; someone is stressful because he doesn't know how to manage his own inner system. It is not the nature of the job which makes one stressful.” – Sadhguru
- “Stress is the trash of modern life; we all generate it, but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.” – Danzae Pace
- “There are two medicines for all ills: time and silence.” – Alexander Dumas
- When I’m grateful for all the blessings, it puts away all the stress about things not in my control. Things like long hours, aging, pollution, scandals … it helps me create perspective by just focusing on being grateful. Take that moment twice a day with yourself.” – Darby Stanchfield
- “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – J.K. Rowling
It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – J.K. Rowling
- “To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.” – Jill Bolte Taylor
- “It seems that we have it backward in our society. We tend to look up to people who are under a great deal of stress, who can handle loads of stress, and those who are under a great deal of pressure.” – Richard Carlson
- “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “You may have a million desires to be in other places, doing other things, but you are not there, you are here.” – Zen proverb
- “Some people are so used to experiencing stress that they don’t remember what life was like without it.” – Andrew J. Bernstein
- “It's a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life.” – Paulo Coelho
- “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” – Dolly Parton
- “There’s a lot of stress out there, and to handle it, you just need to believe in yourself; always go back to the person that you know you are, and don’t let anybody tell you any different, because everyone’s special and everyone’s awesome.” – McKayla Maroney
- “It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” – Hans Selye
- “Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don’t try to figure anything out. Don’t try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest.” – Tilopa
- “Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There’s going to be stress in life, but it’s your choice whether you let it affect you or not.” – Valerie Bertinelli
- “Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.” – Nelson DeMille
- If you don’t think your anxiety, depression, sadness and stress impact your physical health, think again. All of these emotions trigger chemical reactions in your body, which can lead to inflammation and a weakened immune system. Learn how to cope, sweet friend. – Kris Carr
- “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so that you can have the physical and emotional energy to take care of your family.” – Michelle Obama
- “That which a man continually thinks about determines his actions in times of opportunity and stress. I will know what you are if you tell me what you think about when you don’t have to think.” – David O. McKay
That which a man continually thinks about determines his actions in times of opportunity and stress. I will know what you are if you tell me what you think about when you don’t have to think.” – David O. McKay
- “You can do anything—but not everything.” – David Allen
- “Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can.” – Louisa May Alcott
- “It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress.” – Melody Beattie
- “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey
- “You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” – Steve Maraboli
- “The high value put upon every minute of time, the idea of hurry-hurry as the most important objective of living, is unquestionably the most dangerous enemy of joy.” – Hermann Hesse
- “When stress sets in, and pressure, I focus.” – David Hallberg
- “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes…Including you.” – Anne Lamott
- “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield
- “Live in the moment, day by day, and don’t stress about the future. People are so caught up in looking into the future that they kind of lose what’s in front of them.” – Jenna Ushkowitz
- “Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.” – Mark Black
Final Thoughts on Stress Quotes
Stress is a tricky beast to fend off. Modern stress is completely different altogether from the more primal and physical stresses we’ve evolved to handle, and much of it comes down to your own attitude and willingness to adapt.
We hope these stress quotes help you feel some more calm and peace in your day-to-day life.
And if you want more resources about stress management, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 11 Examples of SMART Goals for Project Management
- 53 Inspirational Quotes About Change and How to Embrace It
- 173 Uplifting Quotes for Difficult Times in Your Life
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
Tom Smith is a creative writer with over 6 years of professional experience. He discovered the joy of writing after covering some furniture in his childhood home with graffiti. In later years, he got himself a BA in creative writing and hasn’t looked back. After discovering the power of positive thinking and discovering the spiritual side of life, he believes it's a huge privilege to be able to write about all things personal development.
