When we have big decisions to make, one of the many factors to consider is stress. Big decisions introduce significant change into our systems, and this sort of change produces new pressure. One helpful tool in gauging our stress levels is the Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale. It’s a comparison of different life events that cause stress.

The psychologists who developed it were wondering about the correlation between stress and illness. Not surprisingly, they noticed a relationship: the more stressed a person was, the more likely he or she was to get sick. They assigned point values to different stress-causing events and related cumulative values to the probability of illness.

The scale is especially helpful to those of us who are sometimes unaware of just how much stress we are experiencing. For a variety of reasons, we can become numb to this pressure. At other times, a high-stress event can send us into shock. In such cases, crunching the numbers of the scale can give us a more objective sense of where our stress levels are.

Awareness of one’s stress level is extremely helpful when facing decisions. If you just had your fourth child, it might not be the best time to consider a new job! But there’s another side to stress.

It’s not always a bad thing! One can see this on the scale. Outstanding personal achievement has a stress value. It makes sense. If we don’t stress our muscles, they become flaccid and weak. If we don’t stress our minds a bit, we don’t learn. As we all know, our bodies and minds were meant to be used, not to sit around doing nothing.

Periodically assessing one’s cumulative score on the Holmes-Rahe Scale—annually or even quarterly—might provide a more objective understanding of how much stress we’re carrying.

Where do you find yourself today? With too much stress? Too little? Or just the right degree? If you find yourself toward either extreme, I welcome the opportunity for a conversation with you about regaining a healthy amount of stress.