So how do you deal with stress? What’s your coping mechanism? When you feel pressured, what do you do? Do you sleep rather than do what is needed, perhaps as an avoidance tactic? Do you call your best friend and talk it out? Do you go exercise to burn off some energy or distract your mind? Perhaps you have to steal a moment away from everyone and cry a few tears. Do you write in a journal? Do you blog out your experience so others can read it?
Your task is to reflect on stressors in your life and write about your reactions to pressured situations. In a one-to-two page essay, elaborate on the questions below.
Questions
Be sure to address the following questions in your essay.
- What stresses you? Think of three things and describe what makes these situations stressful?
- How do they make you feel? (anxious, worried, depressed, sleepy, irritable, hyper, avoidant?)
- How do you currently deal with your stresses to these three situations? Do you react the same way to each?
- Are your methods of coping with stress effective? Explain why or why not.
- What do people close to you think of your reactions to stress and coping methods? (Go ask a parent or close friend if you don’t know the answer to this question.)
- How can you improve your reactions and methods of dealing with stress?
