My Personal Holistic Stress Management Strategy Plan

I lived a relatively stress-free environment until I went off to college. I started to meet people that grew up in a rough childhood and I started to realize how lucky I was. This realization paired up with one of the most difficult quarters I had experience so far. The stress from school and this realization that so many of my fellow peers had experienced such a difficult upbringing caused me to have an anxiety attack for about a week. Luckily I live with two of my closest friends who were able to pick up on the fact that I was not acting myself and they helped me realize what was going on. The stress caused me to overthink everything with in turn only lead to more stress. I started to sleep less, eat less and that also only caused more stress. I vividly remember a time during that week when my roommate sat me down and said she wanted to show me something that could help relax me. She lead me through a guided meditation. At first I was skeptical. I had no idea how a simple exercise was going to help me but to my surprise it really did! Just by focusing on my breathing and shutting my mind off for a few minutes I was alleviated of my stress. Kelly McGonigal’s video on how to make stress your friend gave me a light of insight on how I can combat a situation like this in the future. She asked the audience to “view stress as a positive thing rather than a negative thing” and just by

Journaling isn’t for everyone; some choose to mediate to reach full relaxation. Throughout the day, when we experience stress, our bodies automatically react in ways that prepare us to fight or run. In some cases of extreme danger, this physical response is helpful. However, a prolonged state of such agitation can cause physical damage to every part of the body. Meditation affects the body in exactly the opposite ways that stress does, restoring the body to a calm state, helping the body to repair it self, and preventing new damage due to the physical effects of stress (Scott, 2010).

Nursing school requires an immense amount of dedication and motivation. In order to function at an optimal level, it is necessary to identify problem areas then be able to intervene and change them in a positive manner. In seminar, I used the Lifestyle and Health Habits Self Assessment and determined that I suffer from a high level of stress. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the methods and interventions I used to improve this problem, as well as explore the nursing process and how to apply it to a situation.

In today’s time and space, stress is a killer, both literally and figuratively. A number of people feel the impact of stress no matter whether they are young or old. With the strain of various day to day responsibilities of modern day living, almost everyone feels the cold, dark shadow of stress wreaking havoc with their mental peace. There are ways around this ubiquitous villain of sorts. The usual measures of exercising, music, yoga, meditation, etc. are always successful in giving you a measure of control over stress.

Kelly McGonigal discusses the importance of viewing stress as positive, as opposed to negative, by detailing three specific studies and findings about stress. In the first study, it was discovered that people with a significant amount of stress had a higher mortality rate; however, this was only statistically significant if the subject viewed stress as harmful. If the overly-stressed subject didn’t view stress as harmful, they were actually at the lowest risk of dying, even compared to those with a minimal amount. Therefore, it is important to change a person’s perspective of stress. In particular, McGonigal emphasizes that stress is important for a person’s body: it energizes and prepares them to meet whatever challenge they are facing. Furthermore, it helps the blood vessels remain relaxed, thereby allowing the heart to remain healthy.

Stahl, B., & Goldstein, E. (2010). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

All it takes is 10 Mindful Minutes by Andy Puddicombe is an excellent video. In our society stress is a major factor, whether it’s our job, children, or relationships. As a law enforcement officer, stress plays a crucial part in our day to day. Besides officer safety, we deal with the safety our communities. I have faced many stressful situations which resulted in health issues, a mini-heart attack, high blood pressure just to name a few. At one point in time, I had to step back and seek medical help for my medical issues and seek ways to deal with stress.

In his recent article, “Can We End the Meditation Madness?” published in The New York Times on Oct. 9, 2015, Adam Grant wrote that he himself has nothing against meditation, but he feels that meditation is not for him. He writes that people try to push onto others like “They approach with the fervor of a football fan attacking a keg at a tailgate party. “Which method of meditation do you use?” Grant makes a statement that meditation is one way of many to fight stress but that it is not the only way. Which I have to agree with him because there are many other ways to help reduce stress and are several studies to prove that there are different ways. The list can go on for pages, I am not saying there is a 300 page book about the different ways to relieve stress, but you catch my drift? Right.

Chronic stress has become an epidemic; it affects almost everyone in the western societies. We are taught that stress is given and we just need to manage it and try to change those circumstances or “stressors” we can somehow influence. Everyone has their own coping mechanisms, for some it is exercise, for some alcohol, shopping, meditation, etc. We want to escape stressful thinking and everybody finds their own way. Unfortunately, although we might experience a temporary relief, something usually triggers the stress again. Relief can only be temporary because stress is not caused by the circumstances and thus fixing those or getting relief outside is not going to help. Overwhelm and stress is coming from our thinking. As long as we don’t see it, we are trying to fix the wrong target.

Identify four major ongoing stressors in your life. For each stressor, describe why it is a stressor for you. You need to discuss a variety of areas such as personality, lifestyle, self-talk, and/or beliefs.

Discussions: Ms.Erickson reported that Nathaniel is doing well in his new school and at home. She said that Nathaniel is doing better with the new medication. Nathaniel presented calm, respectful and compliant during the visit. Ms.Erickson reported a decrease in appetite and weight.

Throughout life stress is a common problem whether it’s at work, school or home. The many negative effects of stress in fact affect individuals differently varying from health issues to work performance. Therefore, all individuals have different views of stress and various ways of handling it or otherwise managing their stress. Stress is when any living thing feels endangered and its homeostasis is at risk (Varvogli & Darviri, 2011, p. 74). Ways of dealing with stress are efforts of cognitive, behavioral, and psychological nature that allows a person to manage stress. Although there are different causes of stress, there are also many techniques for relieving it. The following articles are intended for the reader to

This study is significant because stress can be detrimental to one’s physical, emotional, and mental health. Schreiner & Malcolm (2008) suggests that, “mindfulness training is beneficial in reducing the symptoms of subclinical "depression and anxiety and can substantially reduce stress” (p. 1). It is always important to find ways to help manage and reduce daily stressors. I think that many people would care about this study, because stress is something that everyone experiences throughout their life in one way or another. Although stress is not always negative, most of the time, it is. Most people would want to know how they could manage and reduce their stress. I think that my study will make contributions of relief for those who are looking for ways to manage stress, relax, focus,

As one has seen, positive stress adds anticipation and excitement to life, and we all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives. Our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help us. Insufficient stress acts as a depressant and may leave us feeling bored or rejected; on the other hand, excessive stress may leave us feeling "tied up in knots." What one needs to do is find a safe level of stress, which will individually motivate but not overwhelm them.