Stress:
What is it?
Although we all
talk about stress, it often isn't clear what stress is really about. Many
people consider stress to be something that happens to them, an event such as
an injury or a promotion. Others think that stress is what happens to our
bodies, minds and behaviours in response to an event (e.g. heart pounding,
anxiety, or nail biting). While stress does involve events and our response to
them, these are not the most important factors. Our thoughts about the
situations in which we find ourselves a re the critical factor.
When something
happens to us, we automatically evaluate the situation mentally. We decide if
it is threatening to us, how we need to deal with the situation, and what
skills we can use. If we decide that the demands of the situation outweigh the
skills we have, then we label the situation as "stressful" and react
with the classic "stress response". If we decide that our coping
skills outweigh the demands of the situation, then we don't see it as
"stressful".
Everyone sees
situations differently and has different coping skills. For this reason, no two
people will respond exactly the same way to a given situation.
Additionally, not
all situations that are labeled "stressful" are negative. The birth
of a child, being promoted or moving to a new home may not be perceived as
threatening. However, we may feel that situations are "stressful"
because we don't feel fully prepared to deal with them.
Some situations in
life are stress-provoking, but it is our thoughts about situations that determine
whether they are a problem to us.
How we perceive a
stress-provoking event and how we react to it determines its impact on our
health. We may be motivated and invigorated by the events in our lives, or we
may see some as "stressful" and respond in a manner that may have a
negative effect on our physical, mental and social well-being. If we always
respond in a negative way our health and happiness may suffer. By understanding
ourselves and our reactions to stress-provoking situations, we can learn to handle
stress more effectively. We hope that this booklet will help you to build
better coping skills for managing stress.
1. What
is the main idea of this text?
2. Make
some questions.
3. Make
short
summery.
I
think that …
I
agree with …
Besides
(кроме того)
…
I’ve
learnt some interesting things. For example, …
At
the end of my summery I want to tell you…
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