“Stress” and It’s “Types” Are Fear-Based Definitions. Stress, eustress, distress, et.al. are all enabling shortcuts. Social psychologists slap inflammatory labels on simple conditions to patronize people. Clinical psychologists call “Stress”, “generalized disinhibition”. Stress and disinhibition are definitions separated by implications.

Embued with similar, negative, emotional components, “Stress” is synonymous with fear. We are allowed to rationalize our feelings without having to understand them. Simply by saying “I’m stressed”, we imply that we have no say over our condition. Hence, enabling definitions maintain our confusion.

You may have employed the motivational axiom, “Face your fears” without realizing “FYF” is an adversarial barb into our subconscious. “Fear” is promoted as our antagonist. “Face Your Fears” has supplanted humanity’s more inspirational, positive message, “Embrace the unknown”.

“Stress” also causes us to blame our system or situations implicitly for “stressing me out”, as if our situation has an intention. “Stress” describes an adversarial relationship between man and nature. For example, stress as enabling oppressor – e.g. an over-protective mother. In any case, blaming our feelings on a disembodied system is ludicrous. Therefore, we have to acknowledge that “Stress” is a term used by social psychologists and not by data-driven, clinical scientists.

Clinical Psychology’s “Disinhibition”, on the other hand, describes an openness to any potential outcome and requisite actions. Simply stated, we exhibit a ‘keeping-our-options-open’ condition. Our system is not central to our clinical condition, but rather a sounding board for internal dialogue.

Certainly, there are both material and immaterial uncertainties we turn into life and death scenarios. But, ours is an individual problem, not a systemic problem. Overcoming our fear-based, “Stressed” condition gets easier if we find ways to understand disinhibition as a completely natural openness to uncertain outcomes.

Changing our way of doing things, for instance, creates an opportunity for learning disinhibition as an empowering condition. It is a process, like anything else. We are conditioned from birth either to fear or embrace the unknown. We don’t have to worry about which conditioning we received. Just understand that embracing change or fearing change is, essentially, a choice.

I’d like to offer the Open Stance as a golf swing cure. However, initiating the process of adaptation necessitates disinhibition until you shed inefficient movement patterns. Obviously, I assume my audience is highly intelligent. Therefore, I’ll close by saying, be “Disinhibited” to the Open Stance’s curative unknown.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy