What is Stress?

Stress is something that you feel or experience when external and internal forces are putting too great a demand on your limited physical and mental energy. There are an infinite number of causes for stress. For example as a teacher you may perceive your workload to be too great, your expectation of yourself may be too high or your, perceived or real, inability to deal with young people with negative attitudes and behaviours is becoming too much of a problem.
Stress materializes when you allow these things to overwhelm you. As a teacher, everyday brings so many new challeneges and things to overcome. It is how well an individual can handle these things that determines the amount of stress one feels. But the stress is not just personal anymore. There are parents to deal with, the school board to answer to, the government's expectations, etc. More and more is being expected of teacher's on a daily basis.