Is it possible to be stressed and not know it?
 

It seems to be a safe assumption that most people are put in stressful situations at various times in their life, and this made me wonder something.

Is it possible to be stressed and not know it? Is the act of being "stressed" a feeling/experience that is always recognizable, or can there be instances where an individual is stressed out, but isn't aware of it?

The interpretation "I'm stressed" is something you can only say once you've stepped back and reassessed your situation objectively. When you're right in the midst of the stress, it doesn't occur for you as stress, it's how things are.

I'd say in the moment of being stressed, you NEVER are aware of it. Not as "stress" per se. You're aware that things aren't going well, maybe.

I think I can emphasize Jimellow. I never "feel stressed out". But when under pressure I notice physical changes in my body- my psoriasis gets worse, I have trouble getting to sleep. Little things where my body is bitchin at me.

link

Here are some VERY good examples of how your body reacts to stress. Courtesy of a fellow TFPer from this thread:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=78382

You may notice how it starts small and gets serious over time.

I can simply, yes. I was once involved in behavior I am now ashamed of, and only when I corrected my behavior did I realize how stressful the life I was living had become. I had no idea.

I think a slow creeping stress, or even depression, is weighing down a lot of people who don't even know it.

Vaguely put, it's possible to be a LOT of things without knowing it. Keep that one in mind at all times.

Most of the time when I get stressed, I don't even realize it's happening at first. Things are just gradually building up and more and more is getting tossed on my plate and I keep marking things down to get to them in order and getting more frantic about it. Then I step back and go "holy shit, I'm hosed." - and then I'm stressed :)