You're staring at a long to-do list, the clock is ticking, and suddenly you can’t remember your email password. Is this stress? Or is it anxiety? Understanding the difference can help you respond — not just react.
According to recent research by MYOB, over 2 in 3 small business owners say work-related stress impacts their wellbeing — and nearly half report experiencing anxiety. And it’s not just work — Smiling Mind’s State of Mind research shows that for many parents, anxiety doesn’t stay at the office. Pressure is increasingly following us home, affecting overall wellbeing.
When everything feels overwhelming, it’s easy to lump stress and anxiety into one big mental mess. But there's a difference, and knowing what you’re dealing with is the first step to feeling more in control. Because once you can name it, you can start managing it.
You're not imagining it — whether it’s a regular stocktake or reconciling accounts, your mind and body can respond to stress like a threat, temporarily moving into what’s known as a “fight, flight or freeze” response.
Our bodies respond to stress by releasing different hormones, which help to sharpen our focus, and get us ready to act. This ancient survival mechanism may be great for running from a lion, but less useful when we’re just trying to figure out annual superannuation contributions.
Stress and anxiety can show up in similar ways — but understanding what’s behind them helps us respond more effectively.
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But here’s the catch: even though stress and anxiety can feel similar, their causes aren’t the same, which means the way we handle them can be quite different too.
Stress usually ramps up in response to something specific — like a pending deadline — and settles once the pressure passes. Anxiety, however, tends to stick around, and is driven by perceived threats that often don’t have a clear resolution.
Knowing which one we’re feeling — stress or anxiety — can help us choose the right tool to respond: a quick reset for one, or a longer-term circuit breaker for the other.
Turns out, panic isn’t a productivity hack.
Before we can manage what we’re feeling, let’s break down the basics when it comes to stress and anxiety.
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Stress is our brains’ natural response to any kind of demand or threat — physical, emotional, or mental. This can include anything from a pending deadline, a meeting, or a looming tax return that feels like it’s screaming at you from your to-do list. It’s usually short-term, and once the pressure passes, so does the feeling. |
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Anxiety happens when our mind gets stuck in an emotional state of anticipating future danger — even if the external pressure is gone. Anxiety can feel more persistent and harder to switch off compared to stress—impacting how we respond to other demands in life. Feeling anxious from time to time is part of being human — especially when we’re under pressure. But when these feelings stick around, start taking over more parts of life, or feel too hard to manage, it might be more than just everyday anxiety. |
Understanding the difference between stress and anxiety matters, because how we manage stress isn’t always how we manage anxiety. While stress management calls for short-term strategies, addressing anxiety may call for longer-term approaches to build resilience and mental fitness.
Science-backed strategies for when things feel overwhelming.
Quick resets can save the day, but building mental fitness over time is what keeps the spiral from taking hold in the first place. Feeling stressed or anxious doesn’t mean we’re failing — it means we’re human, and we’re carrying a lot.
Prioritising mental wellbeing doesn’t have to be another checkbox on an endless to-do list. With just a few simple, intentional habits, we can build the clarity, calm, and resilience we need to handle what life throws our way.
Try the free Smiling Mind App for simple, guided tools to help manage stress and build mental fitness — anywhere, anytime.