THE CONCEPT OF STRESS

The Concept of Stress

The Concept of Stress

The word stress is a broad term and is used widely across many professions, yet it is not clearly defined and has no limitations. Stress is the new norm, whether you are a person or animal. Stress dominates life and my understanding of stress is that it is negative and can be categorized into two major groups; physical stress and mental stress. The word stress is derived from the Latin verb stringo, meaning to draw tight, graze or pluck and the meaning of stress is forever being expanded. There is some confusion as to an exact definition of stress but it is natural that different people have different definitions of stress due to the wide variety of cultures and views present.

Personally, stress is a negative part of my everyday life, but without stress, life would be boring as riding a merry-go-round (simile). However, it is important that stress is well-balanced because excessive amounts of stress have a negative impact on health and mental status. Even in the recent past, the stress of completing the annual senior project has been built up since the beginning of the school year. From the stress, it has brought my health guards down, causing exposition to sickness, leaving me exhausted and temperamental (anadiplosis).

Everyone has stress, and we all have different stressors. Each person has their own way of coping with stress. some ignore their problems while others face them head on. There are four types of stressors and we all experience them at some point in our lives. One of these stressors is hassles. Hassles are a part of everyday life, but if they aren't coped with, they an cause major problems. One hassle in my life is me being constantly sick all of the time. Lately, I have had a lot of colds and flus's. Coughing, sneezing, and missing school can get really old. It is a hassle to blow my nose and take my pills all of the time. My being sick is a big hassle, but it is not really a high quality of stressor. Hassles can cause quite a bit of stress, but they are nothing compared to a catastrophe.

Catastrophes are unpredictable events that can change your life permanently. The biggest catastrophe in my life was when my best friend, Dre, died. It was hard for me because I knew what was happening to him but there was nothing I could do about it. My parents didn't know about him so I couldn't turn to them. I couldn't turn to my boyfriend because he wouldn't understand or care. Dre was the one person I could always turn to, and when I lost him my life changed forever. The death of a loved one is usually considered a life change, but in my case it was much more drastic than that.

My life change that has caused me a lot of stress would be my problems with my ...