Whether if you’re rushing to school or freaking out over a test that you didn’t study for, pressure is everywhere. And yet, us humans are killing ourselves by increasing our anxiety levels—and it’s so subtle, we barely even notice it.

One example is what I call the “adults-to-kids” pressure; you know how your school bus driver needs to have a parent visible in order to send you home? Well, my mom allowed my bus driver to simply drop us off and go in, but today the garage door was closed; I frantically punched in the code to open the garage door, but it didn’t work. A few minutes later, as the driver anxiously honked the horn (knowing that her schedule might be delayed), my anxiety levels increased, forcing me to bang on the garage door, desperately calling my mother (who fortunately opened the other garage door that we had). This anecdote here is just one example of how we’re really ramping up our stress.

Another type of pressure that we humans put on each other is peer pressure. Your friends probably forced you to do something—even though it was wrong. Regardless of your location—at school, the park, the library—you were probably threatened by your companions to do something immoral or illegal at some point in your lives; the same goes for bullies and criminals, who threaten you with attacks ranging from devastating punches, kicks, and/or martial arts moves to even puncturing your body with a bullet or two.

Of course, we have the classic example: “self-pressure”, as I call it, is basically procrastination: you’re working on a project, studying for an upcoming test or quiz, or simply trying to complete your homework. Regardless if the assigned material was hard to understand or if you got distracted, you end up working down to the very last minute—probably until midnight or even later. This is actually a type of pressure that we all face—especially when we’re in high school, college, etc.

Regardless of the “type” of pressure you’re facing, you frantically decide what to do, your anxiety levels increase—and as you might know, increased anxiety means increased blood pressure, which can result in your blood circulating too fast—which can eventually result in death. This is just one of the many fatal consequences of us humans pressuring ourselves.

Aside from some brutal (and deadly) results, pressure leads to stress. I’m pretty sure most of you were in stressful situations before, whether it had to do with school, work, or something else. Apparently, stress can lead to sleep deprivation, reduced focus, depression, and several other negative effects that can impact your life. In a nutshell, stress is—to quote Nintendo and Game Freak, of course—“super effective!” (It really is “super effective”, but obviously in a negative way.)

Thankfully, we do have various ways to reduce our stress—mainly through our hobbies—but if stress was an actual character/person, he/she/it would say, in the words of MCU villain Thanos, “I am inevitable”—especially because the pressure that us humans go through (on a daily basis) is quite subtle.