Psychology week 3 2007 STRESS

Stress is defined as: any circumstances that threaten or are perceived as threatening to ones well being and thereby tax ones coping abilities.
In todays world we need to come to realize that stress is part of our everyday lives, whether your stressed because you woke up late, the kids are giving you a hard time getting up, your boss gets on you first thing in the morning, traffic is backed up and not moving, or just that you spilled coffee on your work clothes and have to change. The key question is how do you deal with it?
Stress is in the eye of the beholder. There are 2 types of appraisals, primary which is how you view the stress and the other is secondary where you evaluate how you will deal with the stress. Some people deal with stress by reacting without thinking and others think about how to cope with it and act upon their decision in how to cope. There are all kinds of stress, your environment, you culture, pressure to get something done within a time table, outside interference, changes in you life, your friends, family and many more. Stress can have a lot of medical effects on you, such as high blood pressure, cardiac conditions, it can make you unhappy all the time which can lead to depression, or it can lead to agression all of which can be very dangerous to yourself and other around you. One way to deal with stress is to have a positive attitude, take action(don't let someone or something stress you out and not take action on it... solve the problem), exercise (great way to get agression out and feel better about your self), don't dwell on the unknown deal with the facts and solve the issue based on fact, be flexible and think of more than one solution if possible and always remain calm (you always get more without yelling) and be respectful.
I have a lot of stress in my life right now because i'm going to school full time, not bringing in any income(not contributing to the household is very stressful to me as I have always worked), having to deal with my daughters father ( who is a pain in my behind everyday ) and I have had to mature a lot but my way of dealing with stress is positive attitude and hugging my babies cause there is no greater love or stress relief than you child hugging you and saying I love you mom. Somehow it makes all the worries go away and I always smile.