Stress: What is it?
Although we
all talk about stress, it often isn't clear what stress is really
about. Many people consider stress to be something that happens
to them, an event such as an injury or a promotion. Others think
that stress is what happens to our bodies, minds and behaviours
in response to an event (e.g. heart pounding, anxiety, or nail biting).
While stress does involve events and our response to them, these
are not the most important factors. Our thoughts about the situations
in which we find ourselves a re the critical factor.
When something
happens to us, we automatically evaluate the situation mentally.
We decide if it is threatening to us, how we need to deal with the
situation, and what skills we can use. If we decide that the demands
of the situation outweigh the skills we have, then we label the
situation as "stressful" and react with the classic "stress response".
If we decide that our coping skills outweigh the demands of the
situation, then we don't see it as "stressful".
Everyone sees
situations differently and has different coping skills. For this
reason, no two people will respond exactly the same way to a given
situation.
Additionally,
not all situations that are labelled "stressful" are negative. The
birth of a child, being promoted or moving to a new home may not
be perceived as threatening. However, we may feel that situations
are "stressful" because we don't feel fully prepared to deal with
them.
Some situations
in life are stress-provoking, but it is our thoughts about situations
that determine whether they are a problem to us.
How we perceive
a stress-provoking event and how we react to it determines its impact
on our health. We may be motivated and invigorated by the events
in our lives, or we may see some as "stressful" and respond in a
manner that may have a negative effect on our physical, mental and
social well-being. If we we always respond in a negative way our
health and happiness may suffer. By understanding ourselves and
our reactions to stress-provoking situations, we can learn to handle
stress more effectively. We hope that this booklet will help you
to build better coping skills for managing stress.
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