Stress: Causes, Effects and Reflection Paper

Stress: Causes, Effects and Reflection Paper LAI Mincong Stress is a common problem that affects us in our daily lives. When we encounter a number of changes, difficulties or challenges in life, for example, change jobs, exams, marital problems, and we will feel pressure. What is Stress? Stress is a state of tension of both physical and psychological phenomenon when we feel there is not enough capacity to meet the requirements of life or facing challenges and threats. According to Taylor (2012), Stress is a negative emotional experience characterized by predictable biochemical, cognitive, physiological and behavioural changes aimed at either changing the stressor or adapting to its effects. Stress is also combined by two components: Stressor and Stress reactivity. (Greenberg, 1999) Conceptualizing Stress Chronic stress refers to experiencing a long-term stressor, while acute stress experiences a short-term one (Pearson, 2014). Personality Factors Stress Type A personality pattern reacts to stress in emotional ways, while Type B personality pattern reacts it in rational ways (Pearson, 2014). Major Sources of Stress The infinity hope and requirements of human in the limited real life cause both conflict and frustration, for example, when we face some daily hassles and major life events such as death, we may feel stressful. Those are the stressor. Greenberg (1999) said, a stressor is a stimulus with the potential of triggering the fight-or-flight response. The stressor will produce feeling of pressure, it depends on the degree of personal attention to the stressor, the capacity of relevant things and situation management, and expectations of their own. Physiological Stress Reaction Most of the stressors arouse anxiety, which means the disagreeable feeling of nervousness or worry, We usually cope with the stress by using defence mechanisms, which can protect us from the awareness of anxiety, and help us to maintain a sense of self-worth in those situations. (Pearson, 2014) For example, we will justify our unacceptable behaviour with reasons, which is called Rationalization. Selye (1991) found there is a characteristic pattern of nonspecific physiological mechanisms that are activated in response to almost any stressor, he called this pattern the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). It is made up by three progressive stages (Pearson, 2014): Alarm reaction: When we first time exposed to the stressor, it will produce the biochemical changes and defence mechanisms to maintain our body normal functioning and trigger the fight-or-flight response. Resistance stage: The reactions of the alarm stage disappeared; our body resistance to the stressor will increase to cope with the continued stress. The cost of this resistance is our body’s defence system would be weakened. If the stressor hasn’t been successfully dealt, then we will enter the third phase reaction. Exhaustion stage: When the body is constantly exposed to the same long-term stressor and still unable to adapt it after adjustment, the body can no longer to adapt to chronic stress, and the physical symptoms of the alarm reaction reappear. Managing Stress There are two methods of managing stress, they are modify our environment and alter our lifestyle (Pearson, 2014). Application Two years ago, when I was going to take my first Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), I have to finish studying my form.6 lessons, the Independent Enquiry Study project (IES), and lots of tests finish many past papers from different subjects after school. But I also need to review the lessons that I have learnt before. I was very stressful and that time. Not just because of the heavy workload, but also the Importance of the HKDSE, it would affect the result that I can enter the university or not. Another reason is the high personal and family expectation to my HKDSE result. When I realised that I have lots of assignments and important exams were coming, I was facing a chronic stress, which means the coming assignments and exams are long-term and on-going stressor. It triggered my fight-or-flight response, on the very beginning, I was choose to flee from those heavy workload, I was keep telling myself that I still have plenty of time to finish my assignments and do the revision, try to rationalize my unacceptable behaviour. Afterward, I realised that the time is running short and I have to confront with these stressor, I felt very stressful and I started to sweat, my heart beat and my breath have been faster than before. Those are the biochemical changes results in my body when I was in the alarm stage, it helps my body to ready for dealing with heavy workload and keep its normal functioning at the same time. Moreover, when I start working on my assignments, my sweat, rapid heartbeat and breath disappeared, The physical reactions of the alarm stage disappear. I felt that I have enough energy to focus and finish my IES. Those are the signs of my body defence rise to cope with the continued stress which means the IES project during the resistance stage, also to return my body normal functioning. However, it takes a few days for me to finish it, and I barely worked overnight in those days. My body resistance to infections decreased, so I felt stomach pain and headache afterward. Finally, my body defence has broken down, I was suffering from insomnia, and I got sick and fever afterward. Though I have finished my IES, but there are still lots of assignment, test and revision coming. Facing this extremely tight schedule, I was getting more stress. I was worrying whether I can finish them all or not, and my HKDSE result everyday. And it just makes me felt frustrated and stressful. So the physical reactions of the alarm stage reappeared. The stress makes me feel anxious and decrease my working performance on my school and the exam. So my HKDSE result is very poor, and I have decided to repeat the form.6. After the above experience, I usually react to the stress in worry, anxious and time-urgent ways, so I have found that I have the characteristics of Type A personality pattern. Improvement There are two categories of methods of managing stress (Pearson, 2014): Frist, It is modify the environment. We can use different ways to modify what happens around us, such as assertiveness, withdrawal and compromise. Second, we can alter our lifestyle. We can modify something about ourselves and our behaviours. In fact, we may have more control over ourselves than over the environment. Action Plan After the above experience, I decided to improve myself by altering my lifestyle (Pearson, 2014). First, I have to set a timetable for my daily life, try to rearrange my working time and rest time, so I can allocate my time appropriately and prevent the stress when the workload is high. Second, I have to do more exercise, such as swimming and running. Our body will release endorphins during exercise, which can help me feel good and burns away the stress. Also I can reduce my stress by doing relaxation, such as listen some soothing music or engage in deep breathing. Finally, I can seek out for social support by sharing my painful feelings to my friends and support group, they can provide emotional support through their expressions of concern and affection, and also the information and advice that can help me to get more effective solution. Those actions can help me to manage stress. Conclusion To conclude, Stress is everywhere. It may cause positive or negative impact to our mental and physical health. It can sometimes help to motivate us or make us feel anxious and decrease our working performance. But there are also different ways to manage can cope with stress. References Clarke, Deborah. (1994). Stress management : trainers notes. Cambridge: National Extension College. Division of Social Sciences. (2013). DSS10103: Practical psychology for   everyday life course materials. Kowloon Tong, HK: CCCU. Pearson. (2014). Practical psychology for everyday life. Quarry Bay, HK:  Pearson Education Asia Limited. Greenberg, Jerrold S. (1999). Comprehensive stress management (6th ed.). Boston: WCB/McGraw-Hill. Taylor, S. E. (2012). Health psychology (8th ed.). Singapore: McGraw-Hill International Edition.

Career path

The skills that I think are necessary for success in college are being self-motivated, having effective time management and a strong dedication and willpower to want to succeed. The desire to succeed can only come from you. There are people to help you along the way, but you are the only person that can make a change for yourself and for the better. Self-motivation is the number one factor in having a successful college experience. Once you have made a decision to further your education you must realize that there will conflicts throughout.Conflicts with work or family may arise. If you lack self-motivation, there is a possibility you will lose sight of what your goal is. There must be a balance between school and other obligations. You are responsible for finding that balance to ensure a successful college experience and a happy personal or work life as well. Effective time management is imperative in college. There are many times when tests and papers are due at the same time for e ach class. It is important to know what lies ahead in each class.A monthly calendar allows you to note upcoming due dates, midterm and final dates. It is helpful to have a visual so you can plan on a teeth to allow yourself adequate time for each class. Some people may be good at procrastination but when taking multiple classes, I don't think waiting until the last minute is effective. You made a decision to invest time and money to enter college. You have a goal in mind. In order to reach that goal you need a strong dedication and willpower to succeed. There will be bumps along the way.Each class will introduce new ideas and responsibilities; when those responsibilities conflict with other responsibilities, I think you need the willpower to push through it. You need the dedication to the lasses and program you enrolled in. Keep the end goal in sight. The skills that I already have are being self-motivated, having effective time management and a strong dedication to being successful in college. I am a lifetime learner. I enjoy attending my classes and what is involved to succeed. Part of what helps me succeed in my classes is being effective with time management.I have learned how to handle a full time class load, working and having a happy family. My last Job required you to be great at multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is useful when attending college and having a young family. I have learned how to study while my hillier are occupied or napping. I also have my husband's support which is crucial when attending school. In order to write a paper or study for an exam I will either go to the library, my parents' house or at times my husband will take our children somewhere, Just to give me the time I need.I don't think you could succeed in college and in personal life if you don't have the dedication to school. I want to succeed and do well in college to better the life for my family. I am dedicated in accomplishing my goal and I know I will succeed. I have developed these skills through experience. I graduated from high school in 999 and have been attending college since, taking breaks to start my family. I have an associate degree already but have always wanted to pursue nursing. Since graduating with my associates degree, I have always taken part time classes, while working full time and having a family.However, I made the decision to enroll full time and complete my degree. I have three young daughters, all less than six years old. I know that to better their lives I must finish schooling. I want them to see that a higher education is something to strive and work toward. I want them to see my self-motivation and my dedication, to only to them but to school. Effective time management is a necessity when raising my children, being a spouse and being a successful student. I have learned to love my calendar. I write everything down.I have to see lies ahead for my family and for school. One weakness that I have is being committed to too many dif ferent things with my children, all while I am trying to finish school. I sign up to help with a lot of their events and organizations. I need to realize that I am only one person and cannot do it all. I need to only sign up for a select number of events and commit myself to those instead off little bit here and there. I also have bad test anxiety. I am hoping that I can alleviate the anxiety I get by allowing myself adequate time to study and prepare for tests.I also need to have confidence in myself to know that I will succeed on the test. I try to go into each test with a positive attitude. I will be taking the TEAS test on 11/16/12. I have heard so much negativity towards the test from peers that I try to distance myself from the negativity. I know that going into the test Friday that I have done all I was able to do and look forward to seeing my results. I have chosen a nursing career. The same skills listed for a college experience are also needed for a successful nursing care er.In addition to these, strong interpersonal skills and critical thinking skills are needed. I have worked in the health care field for over 10 years, so I have seen first hand what skills are needed and already have knowledge of medical terminology and Anatomy and Physiology. This is only my first semester at Bryant & Stratton. I still need to pass my TEAS and am looking forward to being accepted in the nursing program. I would like to improve upon my confidence. As a nurse you don't have time to second guess yourself. I need to realize that I know the answer and stick to it.I also need to stop being afraid of failure. I need to set little goals and as those are accomplished, celebrate them. This will make my long term goal seem not so far out of reach. I previously stated that I like to avoid negativity. I do not want to be surrounded by negative people or situations. This only brings my confidence down. I also want to remain an active learner. Whether this means taking continuin g education courses or reading a health Journal related to my field; I know that this will increase my confidence because I will be full of knowledge.In conclusion, it is important to understand that the decision to enter college is a life changing decision. Dedication, time management, and the desire to succeed and take responsibility for what needs to be are commitments that must be made upon making the decision to enroll in college. The approach I took when writing this paper is following the outline given and responding to each question. The outline style was effective for this paper since a list of skills were required. I did not forget to expand on any skill since I had it in the outline format.

A Walk in My Shoes Essay

My name is Jr. I hope you enjoy reading as I take you on a journey and a walk in my shoes. Join me as I walk you through my adolescent years up to adult hood. After reading you will be able to see how I developed socioemotionally and became who I am today and why I am the way I am. I will share some of my favorite memories along with some not so fond memories, which changed who I would become as a Father. I was born and raised on the south side of San Antonio, Texas. I am fourth generation Texan, The Sanchez family settled in Eagle Pass, Texas dating back to before Texas became a Republic in 1836. The south side of San Antonio is predominantly Hispanic. Plus I went to a predominantly all Hispanic Catholic School, mainly due to location. Growing up I had little to no interaction with any other races. I feel this gave my classmates and I a feeling of belonging. As I have learned since we all shared the same race, culture, and religion this also helps young people with identity formation. We not only embraced our Mexican heritage we also embraced our Texan heritage. I grew up learning both Spanish and English. Studies show that youths with a positive ethnic identity who also embrace the American culture have more positive outcomes (Umana-Taylor, 2006). My Family growing up was very close. It seemed we always had aunts and uncles living with us at some point in time. I did not mind as I was always looked after and they were excellent role models and provided emotional stability. I am the oldest of four and we are spaced about 4 years apart. My baby sister, the youngest of my siblings came to us when I was about 15. My Father was very strict growing up. It was the typical wait until your dad gets home of scenario. He was a hard working man, and a great provider to his family. He worked two jobs for over twenty years. He put me and my sister and brother through Catholic private school. My father barely graduated high school and was very proud to have graduated. He wore his High school graduation ring until the day he died. If this does not tell you why he sacrificed working two jobs for twenty years I will tell you. There was nothing more important in my dads eyes than going to school and getting a good education. He did not want his kids to have to work as hard as he had to, he wanted a better life for us. Where would I be without my mother. My mother is truly an amazing woman. I know everyone must think their mom is pretty great; unless you can tell me that your mom can go from working a 8-12 hour day, come home feed the kids, help with homework and finish laundry all in one night, than I would say you have a great mom. What sets my mom apart from other moms is she can Cook, garden, fix you’re a/c unit, retile your floor, install your carpet, change out your oil, alternator, pumps, fix your toilet, you name it my mom can do it. So how about that for some motivation, drive, will to do better. When I say I learned my hard work dedication and will to always strive to be the best from my parents, you can see, I truly mean it. My Father was a great provider and like I mentioned before he wanted the best for his kids. I remember him helping me learn to ride a bike, swim, drive a car and even ride a motorcycle. Which are all key points in a child’s life. My mother also worked very hard and late hours. I was cared for by my grandmother whom I grew very attached to. I know it’s not nice to say but I don’t think it was a big secret, I was her favorite. Going to private school definitely positively impacted my life. It is there I would like to say I met my second family. I went to the same school with practically the same students, teachers, nuns and priests from pre-k to 8th grade. It is there I felt safe, I never had to worry about drugs, fights or any negative influences. I played a few sports growing up, like soccer, baseball, volleyball, and most importantly basketball. I also became an alter boy for about 4 years. The church taught me moral character and to love everyone as we are all children of God. My parents were very lively and loved spending time with each other. They seldom ever left us out, we went right along wit them. So this meant if they were going to a dance, so were we. I loved watching my parents dance. We went to many weddings, quinceaneras, and school dances. Another favorite pass time was going to the lake, or the beach, amusement and water parks. I have a lot of fond memories of growing up with my grandmother. I use to love going to her house in the summers, because that meant great cooking, anything we wanted of course and playing with my cousins. My grandmother did not have a very big yard but it was amazing the things we would come up with playing outside. I mentioned before I played basketball. Well I grew up the shortest in class every year but what I lacked in height I made up for in speed. My dad encouraged me like no other, he taught me not to let the bigger kids beat me, he would always say, do not let them eat your sandwich. I never really understood that until I got older. I think what he meant was if you let people take what is yours you will go hungry. This inspired me some how and I collected a lot of sandwiches, because I was feared on the court, fear I would steal the basketball. I continued to play basketball until my 8th grade year. Our team won City champs two years in a row, plus one first place in every tournament for three years. Talk about building up self esteem. Another memory that sticks out in my head is the day I had enough guts to get up and learn how to dance. My mom taught me well. I enjoyed dancing so much I learned how to swing dance, lindy hop, country dance and tejano dance. My dad bought me my first car, it was a 1972 Volkswagen beetle. It was not in the best of shape but little by little my dad helped me fix it right up. All said and done it had a midnight blue metallic clear coated finished paint job with centerline rims, Pirelli tires and smoke black tented windows. I bought my first Harley Davidson when I was about 25 years old. My father always had a motorcycle until I was about the age of 15. I would say about 1 month after I bought mine, he went and bought himself one. For the first time, in a long time he was back on a bike and we were riding together. As a teenager I was pretty active. We moved from the south side of San Antonio to the outskirts of the southeast side of town. This was about the time I graduated from 8th grade. My life was about to change as I knew it. See, up to this point I only knew and interacted with Hispanics. The High school in my district in our new neighbor hood was well versed and predominately white. It is here I would truly feel and learn what assimilation was. There was a mix of races, homosexuality and people of different religious back ground. I did not fully grasp the concept of racism, to me everyone was equal. This was a very tough adjustment for me, especially since I gravitated to the basketball players, which I had always fit in with. I could not fit in with the basketball players they were much to tall, and a lot better skilled than I was. I did however end up getting picked up for the football team, but stopped playing after my sophomore year. I turned my focus to soccer. By the end of my junior year my dad had his first heart attack and I no longer wanted to play sports. I started working to help pay for things that my parents could no longer support me with. I kept some money and gave some to my parents. Without sports I quickly started falling into the wrong crowd. It was not long until I figured out I was headed on the wrong path and with some guidance from my cousins I snapped back into reality. I enjoyed going to clubs and dancing with girls, showing them all the fancy moves my parents had shown me. I can remember dancing until 2 a. m sometimes. This was not a popular decision with my parents of course. In my lifetime I have held many jobs. My first job was with a pharmacy drug store called Eckards. This introduced me to the cruel world of dishonest people. I eventually had to quit this job as I was accused of taking money from the register. I did not take any money from the register but on camera it looked like I took money from the guy that was over paid and whom owed me money, he took the change from a mystery shopper gave me what he owed me and stuck the rest in his pocket. I was very trusting and naive, I never did question what was going on. So I hit the streets, pizza hut delivery that is. I did that for a few weeks but very quickly was introduced to more than what I care to share about from transvestites to abuse. I did not do that job very long. I went to work for West Telemarketing where I found a comfortable, professional, and challenging job as an AT&T representative. I am not going to lie to you this job was boring but I was really good at it, and made a lot of money as a senior in high school. After High school I partied a lot with friends and tried going to a local community college. I also tried to move out of a perfectly good home that I had with my parents. My mother cried for a long time the day I told her I wanted to move out. As it turns out, my mom was right this was not a very good idea and I probably would have done better in community college had I listened to her. I found what I thought was going to be my future in working for Pace Foods. I quickly moved up from learning how to run every machine in the place to being selected as a on the job trained mechanic in about one year. This job found me. I did not choose it. I will never forget my Tio Polo cornering me one afternoon at his house after a night of drinking. He shot it to me strait and gave me the best advise of my life, God Bless His Soul. I joined the Coast Guard at age 20. In the Coast Guard I have had many jobs. I have been a deck hand, a painter, and even a boat rescue swimmer. I really got my calling as I chose to be a corpsman in the Coast Guard. I have done everything from pharmacy, lab tech, x-ray tech, and a physical therapy technician. As I matured in my job I was trained in tactical field medicine and a swat team member. After that I was appointed as a Clinic supervisor. Currently I am running my own clinic as I am the only medical provider for over 60 people. In the Future I would like to make E-7 a rank not easily attained. I would like to finish my degree and retire in San Antonio. I have two kids an ex-wife and the woman of my dreams my wife. My second marriage has worked so well partly because we come from similar religious back grounds and we both believe in making things work. I can honestly say we don’t always see eye to eye, but our Love for each other pushes us past any short falls. I have a son from a previous marriage and she has a daughter from a previous marriage. We currently do not have one together. I hope to instill hardworking ethics and strong leadership to my children. Throughout my life I learned some of the most important things. There are many different walk of people in this world and everyone conforms to whom they were brought up to be. Individually it is our job to note all our differences, along with each persons strengths and weaknesses. I tend to follow my parents footsteps in working hard for what I have and raising my kids with strong moral and respective manners. I hope they grow up to have the respect that I have for my elders. The purpose of such rites is to show society that it has a new adult and to impress on the former youth that he or she is now an adult and expected to act as such. Social scientists like Kottak (2008) believe that rites of passage create new adult identities and allow elders to be looked at as sources of wisdom and role modeling for adult thinking and behavior.

Adverb of Emphasis - Definition and Examples

In English grammar, adverb of emphasis is  a traditional term for an intensifier  used to give added force or a greater degree of certainty to another word in a sentence or to the sentence as a whole. Also called an emphasizer and an  emphasizing adverb. Common adverbs of emphasis include absolutely,  certainly, clearly, definitely, naturally, obviously, positively, really, simply, and undoubtedly. In The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar  (2014), Bas Aarts et al. point out that [o]nly some grammatical models subdivide adverbs with this level of semantic detail.  Ã‚   Examples and Observations I was flat broke and the rent was due. Clearly I needed to find a job.Hes tapping my phone, he said to Celia indignantly. I definitely heard it. Definitely.(Lawrence Sanders, The First Deadly Sin.  G. P. Putnams Sons, 1973) I hadnt the slightest hesitation in saying: For sure! Tell the man--absolutely! Absolutely! Of course!(Joey Tallon in Call Me the Breeze, a novel by Patrick McCabe, 2003) In Stamps the segregation  was so complete that most Black children didnt really, absolutely know what whites looked like.(Maya Angelou,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969Deterrence, obviously, is one of the aims of punishment, but it is surely not the only one. On the contrary, there are at least half a dozen, and some are probably quite as important.(H.L. Mencken, The Penalty of Death At the door of the kitchen she said, You never finish your lunch. You run around senselessly. What will become of you?Then she died.Naturally for the rest of my life I longed to  see her, not only in doorways, in a great number of places—in the dining room with my aunts, at the window looking up and down the block, in the country garden among zinnias and marigolds, in the living room with my father.(Grace Paley, Mother.  Later the Same Day. Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1985)Theoretically, of course, one ought always to try for the best word. But practically, the habit of excessive care in word-selection frequently results in loss of spontaneity.(Francis Thompson, qtd. by Arthur Quiller-Couch in Murder Your Darlings)Everything beginning at Blake Avenue  would always wear for me some delightful strangeness and mildness, simply because it was not of my block, the block,  where the clang  of your head sounded against the pavement when you fell in a fist fight, and the rows of store-lights on each side were pitiless, watching you.(Alfred Kazin, A Walker in the City. Harcourt Brace, 1951 There is undoubtedly a sensation in traveling into foreign parts that is to be had nowhere else; but it is more pleasing at the time than lasting.(William Hazlitt, On Going a Journey Fallacies You can spot ​discourses that beg the question by looking for such words as obviously, of course, and really. Any defense lawyer would immediately leap up and say, Objection! if the prosecution were to say to the jury, Obviously, she is guilty. (Edward P. J. Corbett and Rosa A. Eberly, The Elements of Reasoning. Allyn and Bacon, 2000)