Stress and Coping

Now that a new semester has started, I am taking a "Stress and Coping" class. I wasn't sure how the teacher was going to fill the entire semester with stuff to talk about but as we've gotten going I am trying to figure out how we are going to cover all the info in the 14 week semester!

Thought this was funny, but please don't do this haha

Stress does not only mean to have something pulled tight or a pressure. Dictionary.com said: Importance attached to a thing, emphasis in melody, rhythm, etc.; beat. The physical pressure, pull, or other force exerted on one thing by another; strain. The main definition that stuck out to me was the emphasis in rhythm. What typically stresses us out is a decision that we have made. This affects us in many ways: as we regret the decision, as we try and work through the stress, and how we “cope” with it. In my opinion our daily rhythm sometimes is our own personal stressor and we need to focus more on a goal that we can achieve rather than if something will or won’t go as we had planned.

Synonyms for distress are: ache, affliction, anguish, anxiety, care, concern. The synonyms for stress are: accent, beat, force, import, importance, significance (Just another way to separate the words). Distress seems like it is unresolved stress that hasn’t been addressed.

As we talk about coping, it strikes me that the actual word “coping” is used in so many different circumstances and that we probably don’t really have a grasp on the word.  One of the definitions of the word was: “to join”(dictionary.com). Maybe that is what coping is about- coming together. Can we find the rhythm of our life, and those that are causing us the stress/are living in the stress with us, and join them into a melody? I think that as I have looked at the definitions of these words that their underlying meanings have come to light.

I am finding that there are many ways that families deal with their stress, and not all of them are good. When we are stressed we put ourselves in such a delicate balance of our wants and our needs and we get these more confused when we are stressed than at really any other time in our lives.

I have had a little bit more difficult time dealing with the stress in my life of going to school, working 2 jobs, and being married- it puts a stress on  every aspect of my life! I have learned in this first week of class that I need to find the root of my stress and deal with that first then I will be better able to keep my head on the level with all of the other things going on in my life. I need to take it one day at a time and make it through one semester at a time rather than trying to think 3 semesters ahead and how I might be able to handle that better.