For most of us stress is a trigger for a lot of things. Dealing with stress is paramount, I believe to not just being in true recovery, but life in general. It's always been there-stress, that is....Stress can be one of the paramount things that drives a person to become an addict. (I think of certain high stress professions that have a high percentage of addiction-type tendencies)
At times in our lives stress has been worse than other times. When I was a kid I don't recall feeling so much stress. Life was more simple. So, maybe it's a matter of simplifying....
Speaking for myself: I don't seem to be able to just shake off stress like I used to. It's more work. But it's something I really need deal with....or else....not so good things come of it. And, sometimes we don't realize just how much stress is eating away at our equilibrium, health, happiness, joy, and peace.
Each one of us has their own "stress formula": what works and what doesn't work. Some of us need "down-time", peace, quiet. Others need friendships and more human interaction. Some us like to read, to pray, trust in our higher power.
I've got to really size the stress up and not be in denial about just how stressed out I am really feeling. I got to give it a good look....because if I don't I can get into danger zone.
Stress was and is and will continue to be. But we can 'deal'; we've GOT to deal.
We need to not always tackle stress harder, -- we need to tackle it smarter. [[wink]]