Stress, stressor, family, symptoms, stress management
On 2nd November 2021, my father was fired from the Target Corporation as the firm's management wanted to reduce the number of workers due to the reduced sales caused by the COVID-19 crisis. From that day, I was introduced to stress. My stressor was the fear of poverty because my dad was the breadwinner, and my mom was just a housewife. (...)
[...] I tried dancing, running, swimming, and cycling. I walked for lunch instead of traveling on a bus and cleaned my hostel. I also used the stairs to the lecture hall instead of the elevators and helped my friend John handwash his car. Still, I followed advice from Montero-Marin (2014), who retains that stressed individuals should create time to socialize with friends and play with their pets. I ensured that I took enough sleep, six to seven hours. Another stressful moment I went through was when I joined campus and realized that I could not balance classwork, and time to interact with friends. [...]
[...] I also listened to booming music, but I realized that my stressful situation worsened. My friend John empathized with me and took me to a counselor who operated within my nearest town. Among the many approaches recommended to me by the psychotherapist was laughter, talking, and cognitive behavior therapy. It was interesting to note that laughter could release some feel-good hormones that improved my immune system (Seaward, B. L. (2017). Although it took some time to recover, the counselor's therapy helped me. [...]
[...] Although I applied appropriate approaches to coping with stress, some of my methods were inappropriate. For instance, my decision to oversleep and take long hours watching movies when I am awake could not help me improve my stressful conditions. Instead, I would have focused on a balanced diet, exercises, social support, and striving for a positive attitude towards life. Signs and symptoms I experienced while under stress During my stressful period, I experienced several physical and mental symptoms. Most of my signs and symptoms of stress aligned with the observations made by Stults-Kolehmainen (2014), that people under stress may experience severe headaches and stomach complications like constipation, diarrhea, and nausea. [...]
[...] I managed this stress by doing a lot of exercises. I practised yoga that focused on stretching my body and took deep breathing to lower my anxiety. I also tried meditation, whereby I found a quiet place within the home that evening, sat alone, and focused on my breath. That night, meditation enabled me to reduce stress and anxiety. It also boosted my mood and improved my sleep. The demise of my Aunt, Jerusa, was the worst situation to cope with. [...]
[...] (2014). Coping with stress and types of burnout: explanatory power of different coping strategies. PloS one, 9(2), e89090. Seaward, B. L. (2017). Managing stress. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A., & Sinha, R. (2014). The effects of stress on physical activity and exercise. Sports medicine, 44(1), 81-121. [...]
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