April Is Stress Awareness Month

April is Stress Awareness Month. When I first read that in a local newspaper, my response was “Really? As if we’re not all very well-aware that we are stressed — sometimes to the max. Do we really need a month to focus on it? Then I read what it’s actually about: April as Stress Awareness Month was initiated by the Health Resource Network in 1992 to encourage health organizations to develop and distribute educational materials and hold public events about stress. Okay. That makes sense. But as I looked at internet articles on stress, most of them stress (pun) things one can do about stress. Look and you’ll find such titles as “6 tips for Banishing Stress”; “10 things to do to Reduce your Stress”; “Meditate your Stress Away.” Not that such pointers are bad things. But such articles are incomplete. The Stress Convergence Here’s the thing: How stressed we feel is a convergence of how much stress we have/allow into our lives and the strength of the coping skills we have to deal with it. Some people whose lives look super stressed aren’t all that bothered. Why? Because they have plenty of internal and external supports to deal with most of the stressors that come their way. Other people aren’t stressed because they carefully calibrate how much “stress” they will allow into their lives. And some people are stressed by events you may think are no big deal. That’s because those folks haven’t learned ways to manage even minimal stress. Keeping...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: General Habits Happiness Health-related Self-Help Stress National Stress Awareness Month Source Type: blogs