Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Stress and Coping


It seems that stress is a never ending pile of anxieties, one after the other. Over the summer, I took a Positive Psychology course and found that the materials studied became truly helpful when coping with stress. One of the greatest parts of that course, was that stress was identified as inexistant. I for one could not believe that. How could stress not exist if I can actually feel the headaches, the dizziness and frustration? However, when I took a second glance, stress really is what we make it. In life, having to get things done by a particular deadline, accidents, emergencies, school and work all take place in everyone's agenda. It is unfortunate, but there are ways to prepare one's self for coping with these nuances. For me, stress can become accumalated with cleaning. In order for my day to even move forward, I have to have my home in mint perfect condition. Everything for me is on a schedule, including my cleaning. Every part of my home must be bleached and disinfected every week, or else I feel as if everything is dirty. The rational part of me knows that this is untrue, however, the irrational part, or obsessiveness, can not be controlled. I have, however, been working on alleviating this obsessive nature of cleaning, ever since this positive psychology course. One way that I try to rationalize this, is by recognizing that this is a problem. It causes me to be late, which in turn can affect the rest of the day. Another way of coping, is by trying to make sense that if that bathrooms are not cleaned by a certain day, or the carpets are not vaccuumed, my house is not going to become infested with germs. Germs are always going to be apart of daily life and recognizing that it is okay, is one way I try to deal with this. Although stress can take a toll on one's overall health, it is important to know that there are ways of coping. When it comes to the daily stresses of work and school, I make sure to stay active, go running or make time for myself at the park or beach. Just being outdoors, with fresh air, can help to let the stress melt away and know that everything always gets done. On top of that, stress truly is what you make of it. You do not have to let stress affect you, if you do not want it to. Realizing that stress is inexistant, may help to better cope with the curveballs that life throws at us all.


1 comment:

  1. Very true stuff here. Situations are partially what is thrown at you, but mostly how you react to it. I too feel the need to have my living in immaculate shape before i can be productive. It seems i often prioritive cleaning over much more important things, which i also aggre is not a great thing, but there could be worse obsessions. According to the saying we know what kind of company cleanliness keeps. But also anything in excess could be a worry. There absolutely are ways to cope with lifes curveballs and realizing nothing is too big or too small to tackle is a great way to approach solutions to things that may hinder out progress.

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