Opportunities, constraints and demands are all directly related to stress. The emotion of stress is our body's way of dealing with the pressures of our daily lives. In psychology, when we feel stress we have two ways of dealing with it: Fight or flight. We will either tackle the problems causing our stress head on and solve them, or we will flee from and ignore them.
- Opportunities occur daily, and can be anything from the opportunity to go large on a meal at a fast food joint, or the opportunity to get ahead at work. They usually come with consequences, have a limited time frame and stir up negative feelings when they are missed.
- Constraints are limitations in life. These are often related to time and money - do we have all the time we need to complete essential tasks and still enjoy leisure? Can we afford to engage in our favored leisure activities?
- Demands are the things required of us in day-to-day life. We must pick the kids up from school, we must get everything done at work, we must do the washing and ironing, etc. They cause stress because they are often limited by time and money, and carry consequences when they aren't met.
