Do you have stress? Do you feel stress? Of course you do. Everyone has stress. Stress is everywhere. Every place you go, you will find stress. Every person you talk to will give you stress. Every mother and father in the world gives stress to their kids. Every teacher you know will give you stress. You are a student. You have tests. Of course you will have stress.

Where does stress come from? Medical doctors have a list of things that give us stress.

Doctors tell us that if you have a bad job you will have stress. If you have too much work, or homework you will have stress. If you work or live in a dangerous place you will have stress. If you think you cannot grow in your job, or in your studies you will have stress. If you give a speech in front of many people you will have stress. If someone you love dies you will have stress. If you lose your job or your home you will feel stress. If you get married, or move to a new home, or feel sick many days, or take care of an old person, or worry about global warming and the environment, or listen to the news too much, stay on the internet too much, have health trouble, worry about terrorism, or earthquakes, or tsunami, or war you will feel a lot of stress.

When you have a lot of stress your body will not feel good. You will have headaches, feel tired all the time, and have stomach pain. If you have a lot of stress your body will not sleep easily and you can’t concentrate so well. You will be easily angry or easily sad. Stress will make you feel too old and too tired. Stress can steal your health. If you have stress for a very long time you can have heart trouble, high blood pressure, stomach disease, skin trouble, and other serious medical troubles for both your brain and body.

Maybe stress is too dangerous for us. Maybe we should cancel your hard education. Maybe we should cancel your tests and cancel your homework. Maybe we should cancel sports events and the marathon too. Maybe we should cancel music and dance performances too. Everything has too much stress.

This idea is not a good one. Stress, as we know, is also very important. Stress teaches us very important
things. Stress will make you stronger. Stress will make you study more. Stress will make you smarter and better and more interesting. Stress is necessary for you to become a champion in everything that you do. Stress makes a lot of trouble, but it makes you strong too.

We know that when you make something important, like a cup or a knife or a machine, we need to use pressure and fire. Pressure and fire make everything that we need, and they can also make us better and stronger too.

Of course if you feel too much stress you need to have rest. Please take care of your mind and your body. Rest a little, go for a walk outside, ride a bicycle, have a cup of tea and read something nice. These are good ways to reduce your stress. You know your body and mind best so please take good care of both.

But if you want to be a champion or a leader you need to understand that stress is something that is very important for you. Many people will avoid stress or run away from challenging problems. They cannot be leaders or powerful people. That kind of person cannot grow through their stress. That is what you need to do. Stress makes you tough. Stress makes you great. Please remember that some days are hard. Let’s look at our hard days as chances to grow and learn. They usually are and we need to be grateful someday when hard times and trouble come. It is a sign that you are ready to grow.