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Personal Stress Management

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Personal Stress Management
Mujtaba, B., & McCartney, T. O. (2010). Managing workplace stress and conflict amid change. Davie, Fl.: ILEAD Academy, LLC.
What is stress? According to the American Institute of Stress “stress is difficult to define because it is so different for each of us”. Stress contributes to anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular disease. Can we control our stress levels in order to not let it impact our physical health? The answer in simple terms would be yes, but we each would have to understand what triggers stress within us individually and learn the steps to manage out stressors. Mujtaba and McCartney speak on stress, personality, and behavior in their book. Their article has examples of different personalities as well as ones awareness and self esteem which also affect individual stressors.
There are two personality types that can help with some stress management techniques. Type A personality and type B personalities are different in character and seem to be stressed by different factors. Type A personality “often include characteristics such as being overly aggressive, impatient, inconsiderate, and arrogant”.(Mujtaba p.102) These are qualities that not many people want to be associated with, but they are frequently labeled as such because of their drive to work and be successful by their own hard work and dedication. Type A can at times be perceived to work harder than those with Type B personalities because Type B individuals are “viewed as less successful since they do not demonstrate the characteristics that are expected in a competitive type of work environment” (Mujtaba p. 103) There are some advantages to the more laid back personality of Type B because of they appear to have much more patience and don’t add as much quantitative overload of stress to their lives.
Quantitative overload is when one take additional responsibilities without the time management to be able to complete all the tasks. An individual with a full time job, school, and a family has to have an impeccable schedule and time management to not overwork and stress out when their responsibilities are not met in a timely fashion. General stress warnings would show some sign of physiological reaction such are the heart rate increasing, tense muscles, or intestines not working properly.
There are ways to modify the stress that enters our lives and according to Hyde and Allen (1996) there are at least three ways. (p. 103) The external environment of an individual can be modified to lessen the stress and the outcome of the reaction that it might cause; altering the way we appreciate a stressor, and retaining the body respond in a positive and respond matter.(Mujtaba p.103) Being self aware and having positive thinking can also help alter the stress one is feeling. While you may be stuck in a negative situation such as being in a traffic which is the example Mujtaba uses one can choose to focus on the positive instead of the negative. The traffic can cause the stress of knowing that one will be late to their destination, but instead of focusing on the negative a positive view could be the scenery or some music on the radio. The stress of traffic is there and cannot be avoided , but as an individual you can choose to think differently.
Stress is normal in the lives of all humans, but the way we deal with it determines our mental state and our health. If we don’t take action managing our stress it all leads to health problems and eventually an early and sudden death. Stress does not have to last forever, but when not managed and left for prolonged periods of time it leads to chronic stress. Different personalities and environmental factors affect differently so every must identify their own stressor as well as their effective management of such.

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