{"id":35709,"date":"2021-05-20T09:39:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T13:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=35709"},"modified":"2025-10-03T12:01:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:01:29","slug":"stress-free-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#8217;t Make You Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why are problems good for your mental health? Why wouldn&#8217;t you be happy if you lived a stress-free life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite how it sounds, living a stress-free life wouldn&#8217;t make you happier. When we overcome problems it leads to satisfaction and improvement. Without problems and stress in our lives, our lives would be stagnant and we&#8217;d never learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn why a stress-free life wouldn&#8217;t make you happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/personal-life\/health\/mental\/stress-guide\/\">Shortform\u2019s guide to stress<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-you-don-t-want-a-stress-free-life\"><strong>You Don&#8217;t Want a Stress-Free Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We tend to think of problems as something we need to get rid of once and for all in order to be happy. But problems or challenges are never-ending. This is actually a good thing because solving problems leads to satisfaction and improved circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You shouldn&#8217;t want a stress-free life, because without problems, you can\u2019t be happy and wouldn\u2019t have an opportunity to learn and improve.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you solve one problem, you create new ones. You replace your challenges with better ones that you would rather deal with. For instance, when you address a health problem by joining a gym, you add other problems: having to get up early to go to the gym, obtaining transportation, and paying the fees. You shouldn\u2019t be overwhelmed by having to solve new problems that pop up \u2014 it\u2019s all part of the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Problems don\u2019t ever go away; their nature changes. Warren Buffett still has money problems like all of us \u2014 they\u2019re just different problems from what we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-people-get-derailed\">How People Get Derailed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Denying problems: <\/strong>This makes you feel good for a while, but denying reality requires you to distract yourself and repress your true feelings. This makes you anxious and neurotic in the long term.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Striving for a problem-free life:<\/strong> When you strive for a life free of problems and pain, you get disconnected from the real world, and don\u2019t get to learn from solving problems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Developing a victim mentality<\/strong> when you believe you can\u2019t solve your problems. To feel good in the short term, you blame others or your circumstances. But in the long term, this makes you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/feeling-helpless-in-life\/\">feel helpless<\/a>, depressed, and angry.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Blame and denial provide a \u201chigh,\u201d for instance by feeling morally superior. Self-help experts focus on giving you highs, through exercises that make you feel better temporarily, but don\u2019t address the underlying issue. You become addicted to these highs or short-term tactics to feel better. But that leads to worse pain later when you\u2019re forced to confront the real issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Strive for problems you\u2019ll feel good about solving, that improve your life or give you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-sense-of-accomplishment\/\">a sense of accomplishment<\/a> and new skills. <\/strong>Good problems and challenges can be straightforward \u2014 for example, eating food that\u2019s good for you \u2014 or more complicated like fixing a relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why are problems good for your mental health? Why wouldn&#8217;t you be happy if you lived a stress-free life? Despite how it sounds, living a stress-free life wouldn&#8217;t make you happier. When we overcome problems it leads to satisfaction and improvement. Without problems and stress in our lives, our lives would be stagnant and we&#8217;d never learn. Keep reading to learn why a stress-free life wouldn&#8217;t make you happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":35717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[290],"class_list":["post-35709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-psychology","tag-the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-f-ck","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#039;t Make You Happy - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever wished all your problems would go away? As it turns out, living a stress-free life wouldn&#039;t make you happy. Learn why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#039;t Make You Happy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever wished all your problems would go away? As it turns out, living a stress-free life wouldn&#039;t make you happy. Learn why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-20T13:39:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T16:01:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1201\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"638\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#8217;t Make You Happy\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-20T13:39:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T16:01:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\",\"name\":\"Living a Stress-Free Life Won't Make You Happy - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-20T13:39:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T16:01:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Have you ever wished all your problems would go away? As it turns out, living a stress-free life wouldn't make you happy. Learn why.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg\",\"width\":1201,\"height\":638},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#8217;t Make You Happy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\",\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Aster\"},\"description\":\"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"SEO Team Lead\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Living a Stress-Free Life Won't Make You Happy - Shortform Books","description":"Have you ever wished all your problems would go away? As it turns out, living a stress-free life wouldn't make you happy. Learn why.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Living a Stress-Free Life Won't Make You Happy","og_description":"Have you ever wished all your problems would go away? As it turns out, living a stress-free life wouldn't make you happy. Learn why.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-05-20T13:39:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-03T16:01:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1201,"height":638,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Aster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Aster","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Hannah Aster","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f"},"headline":"Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#8217;t Make You Happy","datePublished":"2021-05-20T13:39:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-03T16:01:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/"},"wordCount":507,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg","keywords":["The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle","Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/","name":"Living a Stress-Free Life Won't Make You Happy - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-20T13:39:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-03T16:01:29+00:00","description":"Have you ever wished all your problems would go away? As it turns out, living a stress-free life wouldn't make you happy. Learn why.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg","width":1201,"height":638},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stress-free-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Living a Stress-Free Life Won&#8217;t Make You Happy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f","name":"Hannah Aster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Aster"},"description":"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.","knowsAbout":["Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing"],"jobTitle":"SEO Team Lead","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/stressed-girl.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35709"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146293,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35709\/revisions\/146293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}