Transcending potential through academic and professional development 
Summary: Proactive coping theory offers a cognitive-transactional model of stress that recognizes the reciprocal and continuous interaction between the individual and the environment, offering practical strategies for using goal-oriented and long-term behaviors to anticipate, handle and grow from stressful events before they happen.
While contemporary wisdom decries stress as a global disease that must be eradicated before it kills us all (Manzies, 2005; Oz, 2009), general system theory provides important perspective that illuminates stress as essential to growth, wellness, and survival. The system perspective provides insight into reasons contemporary society seems increasingly incapable of coping with daily reality, and suggests functional adaptability strategies for leveraging stress as a functional force.