Easing Stress Through Applying Habitual Activities, Essay Example

Introduction

Considering the current status of living among many individuals around the globe today, it could not be denied that stress is indeed an inevitable manner. It could be realized that somehow, the different situations that one has to deal with in an everyday matter specifically bring about pressure to some individuals thus causing them to lose the enthusiasm over completing particular tasks that they are usually able to give attention to. Hence, to be able to get back to the ideal enthusiasm over the jobs that they ought to continue, human individuals need to find a way to ease their mind out from the stress and pressures that they experience.

As for me, I have specifically learned how deal with the situation of undergoing stress through particular acts that were taught to me; I was taught to give attention to these habits to make sure that I am able to get relieved from the pressures of stress. In the discussion that follows, I am going to present some of instances when I was able to actually utilize the said habits and was able to relieve stress accordingly. Through the exploration of how the psychology of response works, I will try to explain how the habitual actions work accordingly and why I was able to calm down amidst all the pressures that I had to deal with. Relatively, such condition of personal development came into account especially during the times when I actually needed to keep myself down and at ease until the situation settles down as well.

The Procedures of Handing Stressful Days

Back in the days, I sincerely did not understand what stress was and how I was supposed to respond to it. When stressful situations come, I usually panic, I tend to burst out with anger and I actually lose my temper towards almost everyone else and anyone around. Some people I do not even know often get some lashing and then later on, I would be so sorry that I was not able to control myself; however, during such point, everything is already late and undoing what has already gotten through the situation is already impossible.

I then realized that I have to deal with the matter accordingly to avoid anymore of the destructive situations that occurs whenever I lose my temper every time stress comes in. I have realized though that to be able to survive such hope of winning the desire to remain calm amidst the engaging stressful situations, I need to learn what stress is first and how it specifically affects humans in different ways and how they are able to handle situations accordingly. Stress is understood to be the manner of response that a person has over particular points of stressors. Most likely, particular elements in the environment serve as the stimulus to creating stressful conditions among human individuals. The way human individuals think and perceive how specific situations ought to affect them personally could redefine the way they are able to deal with stressful events successfully.

The fight or flight response of humans specifically come from an anatomic process that defines how a person becomes either positively or negatively involved in a situation allowing him to respond in a manner that best fits his point of convenience. Most often than not, the negativity of one’s response to stress becomes a distinct process by which such individual’s mental ability could be distinctively destructive thus creating a different well-being for the person which is largely apart from what he is and how he is when situations are calm.

Stressors can come in many different types, depending on the individual’s experiences and how he perceives them as part of his personal growth. At times, a person that has been brought up in a broken family easily gets stressed when he sees couples fight or some individuals close to him whose relationships are falling apart; or it could also be that he easily gets taunted and confused when his own partner becomes adamant about his behavior. These are only examples as to how experience and trauma could actually contribute to the manner by which humans respond to particular stressors existing around them which could involve both events and people who are connected to them.

As for me, my most current source of stress is too much work. Pressure from work has caused me several times to lose track of my schedule. If I may, I observe by self to have an obsessive compulsive disorder which further aggravates the stress I usually deal with. Being an OCD, I usually want everything clear and planned that I even make alternative routes to dealing with situations that might likely happen along the way. Sadly though, when unexpected situations occur that are not included in my ‘alternatives’ list, I panic and I often resort to blaming others as well as passing on the pressure I feel to those surrounding me. This has become a very destructive process for me as I become overtly mad about almost everything and everyone. Most often than not, my team mates respond to the situations negatively as well. Notably, when such matters occur, I affect everyone else and at times. Even my teammates begin to lose both interest and enthusiasm over the project thus ruining everything we have worked hard for during the past days.

During one of my outbursts, one of my superiors called me into her office. I was afraid and then again tensed about the situation. I was too concerned as to what was going to happen next; I simply hate not knowing what will happen to me in situations like the one I mentioned. I felt the pressure to respond to whatever by supervisor was going to tell me, I prepared for my lines, but then again, no preparations were able to sustain my stress. When I finally got into her office, she calmly greeted me and mentioned to me why my attention was called upon. She handled everything calmly, something different from what I usually do. However, I saw here fiddling with soft balls during our talk. And then later on she says that it was rather common for leaders like us to get involved with particular stresses and that we should actually expect it. And then she admits that right at that moment, she was already feeling stressed over my actions that she had to contemplate with her emotions as she tries to handle the most effective way of dealing with my attitude thus making me more productive than destructive to the team. She mentions how the balls are actually helping her to keep calm. So she told me to follow through different patterns of habits the next time I get into situations that are highly stressful for me.

How Habitual Actions Help Release Stress

Distraction; this is what I needed to be able to deal with my stress. One of the techniques I used one time was the ten minute body massage with acupressure when I experienced sudden headache because of adverse anxiety over a pressuring task that I had to complete along with my other teammates. The deadline was already nearing its end and was not finished with the project yet. I had to double time and I found myself wanting to shout at my teammates again. At the very minute I realized the existence of such urge to pressure others again, I sat down immediately, kept myself quiet and massaged myself quietly within particular points that I knew would be able to release my tension. For ten minutes, I kept myself away from my teammates and secluded myself in my cubicle. I wanted to deal with the matter immediately, but I knew that a break was necessary. After at least 15 minutes of ‘break’, I decided to come out again and talk to my teammates and I felt an easing emotion that kept me away from shouting; thus allowing me to handle matters more successfully.

Another technique I took note of is rubbing my ears and tugging the lobes. I felt an ease coming forth as I slowly tugged the lobes of my ears; as if blood was flowing in balance instead of in a fast manner as it does whenever I feel stressed. When I did this, I realized how two minutes of such an act could actually calm me down immediately. The last technique was more intricate. And I used this approach to deal with a longer lasting stress that I had to deal with in relation to particular family issues I had to face. Drawing and coloring allowed me to focus on something else apart from the issues that I am currently in need of facing. It helped me ease my mind of from the pressure and concentrate on what I was creating with the drawing I wanted to complete.

Reflections and Learning

Dealing with stress specifically involves the capacity of distracting myself from the stressing situations that I usually undergo. Human individuals need to know what their stressors are and be able to work around such occurrences. Developing relaxing habits could help well in improving the way a person deals with stress accordingly. As stress is contributed by the way a person perceives a situation and thinks of the elements that are existing in relation to the current situation, it is helpful if the mind is put to an ease to be able to successfully deal with the stress. Handling physically easing practices such as tugging the ear’s lobes and applying short but pressure-pointed massages could loosen the muscles that are usually tightened when stress occurs. Putting the mind back into serenity is also important through diverting the focus it has over the stressful event towards another matter that is less pressuring like that of drawing and coloring images. All these simple techniques have worked accordingly for me and I do believe that they could work for others as well especially if they are relatively connected to the points of stressors that others are in need of dealing with in a daily basis.