Stress 101: Understanding and Managing Stressors
Stress is a natural part of life, but it's crucial to comprehend its dynamics for effective management. There are two primary types of stress: acute stress, a short-term response to immediate challenges, and chronic stress, a prolonged state often associated with ongoing life demands.
Identifying your stressors can help you effectively manage stress.
Identifying Stressors
1) Factors That Cause Stress
- Daily Hassles: Common annoyances or strains of daily life. Examples are traffic jams, work problems, arguments.
- Major Life Changes: Important events, both positive and negative, that require significant adjustment. Examples include a new job, illness, divorce.
- Life Circumstances: Permanent or long-term circumstances that make life more difficult. Examples include financial challenges, job dissatisfaction.
2) Factors That Help You Cope
- Daily Uplifts: Positive experiences that make you happy. Examples including having a good meal or time with friends.
- Healthy Coping Strategies: Positive actions that help to reduce or manage stress and other uncomfortable emotions. Examples include journaling and exercise.
- Other Protective Factors: Individual characteristics or life circumstances that protect you from stress. Examples include supportive family.
Discussion Questions
✨ For each of the above factors, list top 3 personal factors/examples. Consider rating each example to help you identify the most stressful aspect of your current life.
✨ Which factors help you cope with stress?
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@SoulfullyAButterfly such an informative post!! thank you, butterfly <3
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Identifying Stressors
1) Factors That Cause Stress
- Daily Hassles: Noise pollution, living in a building with poor management and housework - cooking, cleaning.
- Major Life Changes: Multiple grief and loss, being assaulted and spending birthdays and holidays alone.
- Life Circumstances: Financial challenges, disability and negative thinking.
2) Factors That Help You Cope
- Daily Uplifts: Learning new things, sharing and watching YouTube.
- Healthy Coping: Practice good hygiene, do daily skincare routine and eat well and exercise.
- Other Protective Factors: Cultivating spirituality, setting and achieving goals and volunteering.
@communicativePond1728 thank you for sharing! While you are facing several tough challenges/stressors, I appreciate how you are working to cultivate protective factors and take every day/moment to practice coping and positive focuses.
Would you like to share some of the goals you have set for yourself?
Stress Factor Rating
Inducing Stress
Daily Hassles:
Morning routine- 5
Being anywhere on time- 7
Housework- 10
Major Life Changes:
Moving- 5
New pet- 4
Spouse TBI and the impact on our family- 7
Life Circumstances:
Financial management under duress- 5
New (more) responsibility due to spouses TBI- 8
Mental Health- 8
Coping Mechanisms
Gratitude
Listening to Music
Going on an adventure
Reading the Bible
Therapuetic activities (counseling, peer support, groups, volunteering)
Journaling Prayer
Right now the most stressful factor is handling the way my husband being hit by a car as a pedestrian as forever impacted our lives. He suffered significant injuries and a traumatic brain injury. I've got a lot on my plate and my spouse isn't able to be the teammate I'm used to having, plus he is very emotional about it which is more stressful than just not being able to help with some things, esp when he tries to do things he shouldn't do that he can be more helpful, GAH!!! Learning to cope and face all the aspect of this is stressful and there's always more to learn or new things showing up so getting used to it is coming slow. Being grateful for what we have seems to be the best way to not be consumed by the overwhelming waves of despair. He's alive, he's well, we can and have been doing this, God is with us. It helps motivate me into doing any other coping strategies. And this stress has definitely made me better at reaching out for help or shutting everything down for rest and identifying the time and need for both. It's a lot but this is my life and I can't just not live, I have no choice so I'm watching myself through this and working WITH MYSELF!! It's huge, becoming a team with yourself, I'm quite impressed with how it's been going.
@wtvrsclvr thank you for sharing. I hope that doing this activity has been reflective/therapeutic in a sense. Your summary summarizes it all up very well - I sense great resilience and acceptance of this situation. I will be thinking of you and your family 💖
Are there any new coping strategies you would like to learn about?
Daily hassles: Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia - 5/5 stress level... This really restricts my life and makes it 10x harder to deal with stressful situations.
Major life changes - Mum dealing wirh cancer. 4/5
Life circumstances - Own health and chronic pain issues. 4/5
--
Daily uplifts - Food, family and a home to feel safe in.
Healthy coping strategies - Self help and exposure therapy. If I can control my anxiety and panic then I can handle the the other two issues better.
Other Factors - Medication and family. My dog.
@AnonymousWriter13 thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about your mother Writer. I think you've done great at reflecting and rating the different stressors - your personal reflection on how managing panic and agoraphobia can help address other stressors is very key.
How is your exposure therapy going?
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Hello! 😊
Exposure therapy is going ok. Its a slow and difficult process - as it includes not avoiding fear and being uncomfortable. Would be nice if it could fix itself fast, but sadly will take some time. I guess its just the case of keep trying and working on it.
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Identifying Stressors
1) Factors That Cause Stress
- Daily Hassles: family arguments, Swear words all the time, Sister overprotective.
- Major Life Changes: New job, period cramps, Shifting to another place.
- Life Circumstances: financial challenges, job dissatisfaction, health issues
2) Factors That Help You Cope
- Daily Uplifts: pizza, wine& good sleep.
- Healthy Coping Strategies: 7cups, talking to a friend about the issue, meeting my Psychologist.
- Other Protective Factors: Supportive friends, Books, Pets-Cats/Dogs/gecko/fishes
✨ Which factors help you cope with stress?
Only distraction.
Mostly i divert my stress I'm learning how to cope up with it .
Discussion Questions
✨ For each of the above factors, list top 3 personal factors/examples. Consider rating each example to help you identify the most stressful aspect of your current life. -
My top 3 personal factors include:
- 1. Daily Hassles - Some of my daily hassles are really just me battling against procrastinating, the direction of my day and energy starts with me. Some things that can negatively impact that for me are loud/disruptive neighbors, at times traffic can be really stress and anxiety inducing. I'd rate this stress factor a 3/5
2. Major Life Changes - Major recent life change is returning back to school to renew my Pharmacy Technician license. I took a break before and during covid to pursue my 2nd career from home.
Getting back into the medicine-mindset can be overwhelming to retain after some time away but at my own pace so far all of my assignment grades are above a 93. I'd rate this stress factor a 4/5 because as I enjoy the career field, there's alot of memorization and caution necessary
3. Life Circumstances - I'd rate this stress factor a 0/5 because even when identifying my personal stress factors, I still have nothing but things to be grateful for when reflecting on my life circumstances
✨ Which factors help you cope with stress? -
1. Daily Uplifts - I've found spending time journaling the things I feel I can't share very helpful. I type instead of write because as hours of rest and reflection passed, I return to the notes I typed and clear them to type my new feelings at the time. It gives me a sense of getting out what was needed, while watching myself have the power to "rewrite my story".
I also find exercising to music really helpful depending on the stress factor; If my current time frame or environment isn't conducive to that, I *make* time and space to step away for a minimum of 15 minutes to practice deep breathing and silent self talk. Occasionally I practice chanting certain mantras, it's a form of sound science readjusting internal energy
2. Healthy Coping Strategies - My go-to is to always do something incorporating water and fresh air. Even if it's just reading a few chapters of a book by an open window with ice cold water. It's rare that I'm restricted from spending time in nature which I'm grateful for. Jogging has recently been helpful as well, if I'm in a space of preferring my home then I noticed nature sounds and binaural beats help redirect how stress affects me. I pair the nature sounds with finding things to clean or rearrange around my home before resting; It gives me a sense of pushing out or rearranging negative energy affecting me or my space
3. Other Protective Factors - Volunteering on 7 Cups 💜 I'm fascinated with our ability to support people globally
From the looks of it, my "major life change" is my most stressful aspect, but once the studying and exams are complete I truly enjoy the career. I've only worked in community pharmacies and will now step into the hospitals 🏥 I really enjoyed answering and analyzing this week's challenge, thank you for organizing this @SoulfullyAButterfly
Forgot to add: Being that my belief is that the direction of my day starts with me and my energy, I make an effort to wake up an hour or 2 earlier than needed to start my day doing techniques that soothe my stress and anxiety.
In my experience, it may not prevent unknown future stressors however it sets the tone for how I'm going to handle/manage possible stressors ahead and keeping myself at ease when there isn't any
1. Factors that cause stress
- Daily stressor - job, family circumstances 4/10
- Major life changes - breakup 9/10
- life circumstances - financial, worry about the future 5/10
2. Coping
- Daily Uplifts - music, the jonas brothers, nature
- healthy coping mechanisms - listening to music or calming sounds such as rain/thunder
- other - supportive family / online friends
❤️ My daily hassles are hearing loud arguments (7/10), being delayed by something (9/10) and having too many day-to-day tasks (10/10). My daily uplifts are good meals (7/10), messages from my friends (10/10) and listening to music (10/10). My major life changes are a different treatment (8/10), my academic situation (9/10) and the loss of a loved one (9/10 stress, 100/10 pain). My coping mechanisms are music (10/10), seeking support (10/10) and self-talk (8/10). My life circumstances are my mental health disorders (100/10), my lack of self-confidence (9/10) and other situations that overwhelm me (10/10). My other protective factors are my cat (8/10; I'd give her more but she's in the "annoying toddler" phase), my loved ones (10/10) and 7 Cups (9/10). ❤️
