I'll admit it, I'm a stress junkie, hooked on deadlines — and pretty much useless without one — and used to living a life with not enough hours in the day and a to-do list that's too long. What about you? Do you like stress a little too much? Get off on it even? You're hardly alone.

For all the complaining you might do about being crazy busy and overwhelmed, for always feeling that you're thisclose to burning out, the fact is you need stress, you crave stress, you even thrive on the stress that's baked into your pressure-cooker job.

"Many people think that, in our field, stress is part of the turf," says Louise DeChesser, RN, MS, CNOR, administrator of the Middlesex Center for Advanced Orthopedic Surgery in Middletown, Conn. "I've seen leaders who act like the Tasmanian Devil, thinking that if they're running around like a crazy person, everyone will think they're important and very busy."

Stress junkies are the over-doers both at home and at work. People prone to competitiveness, anxiety and depression may be most likely to get a high from stressful situations, says Debbie Mandel, a New York City stress management specialist.

Sadly, sometimes my weekends are huge letdowns. After another crazy busy week here at the magazine, it's almost as though I've forgotten how to get along without all the stress. Raise your hand if you, too, begin to feel anxious at the mere thought of slowing down your schedule.

Wouldn't it be nice to reclaim the joy and spontaneity in life? One of the keys to doing so is to realize that stress doesn't exist in the physical world, even though we talk about it as if it's something we can see and touch. As Wayne Dyer puts it, "There is no stress in the world, only stressful thoughts. No one can create negativity or stress within you. Only you can do that by virtue of how you process your world."

Lynda Dowman Simon, RN, OR manager of the Mercy Clinic ENT Surgery Center in Springfield, Mo., is one of the lucky ones who's discovered this. "I am not a stress junkie," says Ms. Simon. "I try to stay level-headed and work through issues rather than letting them work through me. Your response to stress is learned. I prefer to remain professional and cool."

Stress only resides between our ears, yet it can stimulate our central nervous system, causing a "natural high," says Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist Jim Pfaus. "By activating our arousal and attention systems, stressors can also wake up the neural circuitry underlying wanting and craving — just like drugs do," says Mr. Pfaus in a recent article.

Brooke A. Day, administrator of the Hastings Surgical Center in West Hastings, Neb., likes the high she gets from what she calls "positive stress." Such as? "When you're making a deal or wondering if a doc who's selling his shares will accept the price, it can be kind of thrilling," says Ms. Day.

It's Friday afternoon as I write this. The weekend is nearly here. Here's hoping I find comfort in the fact that my dear friend stress will be first to greet me when I get back to the office Monday morning.