In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, and the accompanying pandemic fear and stress, we thought a look at some stress and anxiety management basics was in order. In our frenetic society with demands being placed upon people in the workplace, school, community, and home, it is more important than ever for people to find creative ways to cope with and maybe even eliminate distress in their lives. Distress is different than eustress (a name for good stress), which is the helpful type of stress, one that is a burst of energy, telling one’s body what to do. It is the type of stress that can help one accomplish tasks, goals and projects, motivating one to move forward. Eustress becomes distress when it is overdone.
Dimensions
Emotional – Emotional wellness is a deep sense of happiness that comes from understanding personal own feelings and the feelings of other people, accepting personal strengths and weaknesses, and attaining a sense of emotional stability. It is also the ability to maintain effective personal and interpersonal relationships with others. Emotional wellness is the ability to express feelings in an appropriate manner, adjust well to change, and cope with life despite its frustrations and disappointments.
Cognitive – Cognitive wellness encompasses the ability to think clearly and creatively, willingness to continue learning throughout life, ability to apply the things learned in a variety of settings, and readiness to engage one’s mind in interactions with the world. People who are cognitively well are able to absorb new ideas and concepts, understand how thinking affects behavior and emotional reactions, and are to remain steadfast in the face of challenges.
Physical – Physical wellness is associated with living a healthy lifestyle and includes eating a well-balanced diet, sleeping enough, engaging in plenty of physical activity and exercise, maintaining proper weight, and restricting intake of harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and caffeine. Physical wellness encompasses taking measures to protect one’s physical health, protect against illness and disease, and remain active throughout the lifespan.
Social – Social wellness is the ability to feel at ease and comfortable with oneself and with others. It is the ability to relate well to other people, be outgoing and friendly, and develop and maintain intimacy. Social wellness means one has the ability to handle conflicts while being true to one’s own ideals and beliefs. It is being tolerant of others, especially those who are different. Social wellness means loving oneself in order to be able to love others.
Sources
We live in a world fraught with stress. Stress has many sources and can be generated from within a person through self-imposed thoughts and feelings, while others stressors come from the environment:
Stress generated from within a person – Stress can be self-imposed through low self-esteem, anger, feelings of hopelessness, feelings of helplessness, anxiety, perfectionistic tendencies, jealousy and hostility. For example, people who are perfectionistic often bring stress upon themselves by being too careful and worrying about tasks being perfectly accomplished.
Stress generated from the environment – Stress can be felt from the results of environmental catastrophes such as severe storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and acts of war. For example, people who are trying to rebuild their homes and lives after a hurricane find themselves struggling to meet their most basic needs.
Stress generated from conflicts – Stress can be the result of situations in which people are faced with an incompatibility with people, needs, demands, opportunities or goals. For example, a person who does not get along with a co-worker will experience stress on the job.
Stress generated from daily hassles – Stress can be the result of minor irritating annoyances that occur in daily life. Some of these daily hassles may be losing keys, car breaking down, waiting in long lines at a store, waiting for appointments, and getting stuck in traffic. For example, a person having to sit in traffic going to and coming home from work will experience stress.
Stress generated from economic factors – Stress can be the result of economic factors such as losing money in the stock market, not having enough money in retirement, growing inflation, and amassing too much debt. For example, many people have to work later in life because of a lack of enough money to live on in retirement. People may struggle with overcrowded housing, inadequate heating or air-conditioning, dangerous neighborhoods, etc.
Stress generated from changes in families – Stress can be the results of changes in the family such as parents’ separation, divorce, blended families, loss of loved ones, change in residence, birth of a child, adoption, changes in health of family members, and caring for aging parents. For example, people who are forced to care for aging parents often feel guilt, and are stressed because it takes time away from work and other family obligations.
Stress generated from changes at work – Stress can be the result of changes on a job, loss of work, changes in a role played at work, uncomfortable physical demands in the workplace, a lack of safety, interpersonal demands such as an abrasive supervisor or co-worker, and having too much work to complete. For example, a person who must work with an abrasive supervisor will feel uncomfortable most of the work day.
Developing good coping skills is an important component to living a wellness lifestyle. The following exercise fosters laughter, and excellent mood lifter.
Talk To Your Fear
Write a letter to one of your fears describing your feelings about this fear and how much time you devote to worrying about it. Describe how this fear affects your life and the lives of those around you. Describe what you will do to stop being afraid of this situation.
You, __________________________________________________________________________________________, are my fear.
My feelings about you are_______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
I spend ___________time worrying about you because _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
This affects my life _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
It also affects those around me by _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
This is what I am going to do about my fear of you ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Excerpted from Coping with Anxiety by Ester Leutenberg and John Liptak, EdD.
Have a Good Laugh
Laughing and developing a good sense of humor can help you to effectively and creatively deal with the tension and stress in your life. There are several ways to bring laughter back into your life:
Wear a smile. Go ahead and try it right now. Put a big smile on your face. How do you feel?
What kind of reaction will you get from someone to whom you give that smile?
Read a humorous book. What is the funniest book you have ever read?
Watch a funny movie. What are your favorite funny movies?
Talk with a friend who gives you a good laugh. Which friends make you laugh?
Recognize that there are situations that can be frustrating and stressful at the time, but when you look back at them, they can actually be seen as humorous. Name one of those situations.
Excerpted from Coping with Everyday Stressors by Ester Leutenberg and John Liptak, EdD.