Stress Journal Reflection Paper

After having reviewed my Stress Journal assignments for this class, I have noticed that my methods for handling stress have changed. Learning what stress is and the body’s reaction to stress have attributed to this, but also learning methods that I had not thought of or did not know of has also helped me. Not only have I been able to cope with stress quicker, I have also been able to reduce the amount of stress in my life. In the past, if I was confronted with a stressor, I would just try to ignore it or push it to the back of my mind to deal with later. This is a very unhealthy response. It causes even more stress to build up in your body and for the stressor to become a bigger situation than it would have been had you dealt with it right away. In my second and third journal entries, as opposed to the first, I tried to stay in the moment and deal with the stressor at that time. It was much easier to handle and confront the issue rather than dealing with it later and letting my stress reactions have more time to start and run their course. Because of this, I don’t have to deal with the same stressor multiple times. I can deal with it once and move on to something else. Another method that I had not utilized in the past, but started utilizing in the first journal, was the deep breathing technique. Trying to slow my breathing and heart rate down and calming myself down made it easier to deal with the stressor immediately. By calming myself and getting my heart rate in check, I’m able to clearly speak about what I need and what the problem is. This especially comes in handy when dealing with the general public. Calming myself down is a great way to more effectively deal with the stressor and conquer the issue in a more timely manner. I’ve also been able to not think about worst case scenarios all of the time when dealing with