"When pressure exceeds your perceived ability to cope"

"When pressure exceeds your perceived ability to cope" - (Palmer & Cooper, 2010, p. 7)

The above quote is the definition of stress. It's like a light bulb went off in my head when I read these words. How in all of my schooling, and all my classes with psych PhD's had I never heard this? It's a brilliant concise way to describe stress and it's the reason I bought the book: 

How to deal with Stress by Drs Stephen Palmer and Cary Cooper

I haven't finished it yet, but I'm trying to get through the book so I can deal with my stress better. At this point it bottles up inside and I erupt like a crazy person. I owe it to myself, my husband and friends to get a grip, so I'm reading my first "self-help" book. It's by a couple of PhD's so I feel a little better about it. 

The best part of it though is the concept of control. Once I read that definition of stress I understood: I can cope with this dissertation... it will be mine, oh yes, it will.

So, as I continue to chart these rough waters (I love a water pun!), I'm happy to say that I'm getting closer to finishing my looming, anxiety-inducing chapter 7. This is the first of my results chapters - there are three total. There's a lot left to do, but I'm coping.