Today we continue to use the word to describe anything that disrupts us emotionally—we’re stressed, stressed out, under stress, and so on. Stress can also be described as the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and physiological changes that happen when we respond to demands and perceptions. And if those demands placed on us overwhelm our perceived ability to cope, we experience “stress.” In our frenzied minds, we begin to pant silently like an animal and look for an escape.
