Stress is not the enemy, unrecovered stress is

We often talk about stress as something to eliminate. In reality, a life without any stress would also be a life without challenge, learning or meaning. The question is not whether we experience stress, but whether we recover from it.

Demand and recovery

Think of stress like training a muscle. Effort followed by rest makes us stronger. Effort without rest leads to injury. At work, the equivalent of injury is exhaustion, cynicism and a growing sense that nothing we do makes a difference: the three dimensions of burnout.

Recovery is a skill

Researchers describe four experiences that help us recover: detaching mentally from work, relaxing, learning something new outside work, and having control over our free time. None of them requires a long holiday. Many fit into an ordinary evening.

• End the workday with a short ritual that marks the transition.
• Keep one evening a week free of work messages.
• Choose one absorbing activity that has nothing to do with your job.

Organisations matter too. Recovery is far easier in teams where workload is realistic and breaks are respected.