--- title: How to Step Stress: Think of It as Excitement description: How to use the science of emotions to your benefit canonical: https://time.com/4632667/stress-emotions-norepinephrine-excitement/ author: Ian Robertson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-12T11:08:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:41:20.581Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why when feeling stressed, you should say "I'm excited." og:description: How to use the science of emotions to your benefit og:url: https://time.com/4632667/stress-emotions-norepinephrine-excitement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff8fc68d10bd5f6/6988b555656a3f1166bce5ea/stress-test-emotions-science-stressed-anger-excitement.jpg?branch=production&width=420&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 420 og:image:height: 236 og:image:alt: stress-test-emotions-science-stressed-anger-excitement og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why when feeling stressed, you should say "I'm excited." twitter:description: How to use the science of emotions to your benefit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff8fc68d10bd5f6/6988b555656a3f1166bce5ea/stress-test-emotions-science-stressed-anger-excitement.jpg?branch=production&width=420&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Stressing Out Can Help You Succeed by [Ian Robertson](https://time.com/author/ian-robertson/) ## Ian Robertson Jan 12, 2017 11:08 AM UTC  Bloomsbury Publishing by [Ian Robertson](https://time.com/author/ian-robertson/) ## Ian Robertson Jan 12, 2017 11:08 AM UTC Jason paced the corridor outside the boardroom before his presentation. He could hear his pulse in his ears, and his mouth was dry. The last time he felt like this, he told himself to relax, but it didn’t work. So this time, he tried something different: “I feel excited.” Suddenly, his symptoms—the racing pulse, the twisting stomach, the sweaty palms—started to energize him. The boardroom door opened. He performed brilliantly. This story might be fiction, but at its core lies a very real truth. The science of emotion tells us that our bodies respond similarly to many different emotions, including anger, excitement and anxiety. And recent research has shown that if we verbally put those symptoms into a different context—by saying “I feel excited” [when feeling stressed](http://time.com/4411308/stress-resilience-brain-anxiety/), for example—we can trick ourselves into following suit. The key to all this is the neurotransmitter and hormone norepinephrine. When you’re too stressed or scared, your [norepinephrine](https://www.britannica.com/science/norepinephrine) levels surge well beyond their sweet spot; when you tell yourself you’re excited, they sometimes fall back. Of course, this trick won’t work for every emotion: it’s a lot harder to reframe [stress](http://time.com/tag/stress/) as relaxation, because those two conditions have entirely different physical symptoms. Nonetheless, in the right context, stress can become a source of positive energy—not just a by-product of anxiety. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4632667/stress-emotions-norepinephrine-excitement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4632667/stress-emotions-norepinephrine-excitement/"},"headline":"How Stressing Out Can Help You Succeed","datePublished":"2017-01-12T11:08:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:41:20.581Z","description":"Why when feeling stressed, you should instead say \"I'm excited.\"","url":"https://time.com/4632667/stress-emotions-norepinephrine-excitement/","keywords":["Stress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff8fc68d10bd5f6/6988b555656a3f1166bce5ea/stress-test-emotions-science-stressed-anger-excitement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ian Robertson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ian-robertson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff8fc68d10bd5f6/6988b555656a3f1166bce5ea/stress-test-emotions-science-stressed-anger-excitement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"stress-test-emotions-science-stressed-anger-excitement","caption":"The Stress Test by Ian Robertson","creditText":"Bloomsbury Publishing","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/stress/","name":"Stress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4632667/stress-emotions-norepinephrine-excitement/","name":"How Stressing Out Can Help You Succeed"}}]}] ```