How do you respond to stressful events?

July 3rd, 2010 by John Burns

Stress is a very individual thing. The same event, or events, that may cause you to experience stress may not cause someone else to. It is our perception of our own ability to cope with life demands that makes the difference.

We are also individual in how we respond when we feel the demands are too great or too unpleasant. Some try to pretend it isn't happening, work harder at home or at work and hope things will sort themselves out. Some people get angry with themselves, their colleagues, their partners. Some peopl go sick, or find ways to avoid the demand if they can. Some people drink, smoke, eat to excess. As you can see, some coping strategies are at best unhelpful and at worst harmful.

You can assess your own coping stratagies. Keep a log for a few weeks, note how you respond to events that you feel you can't, or would find difficult to cope with. When you have collected the information ask yourself how helpful your coping strategies were. Think about new more helpful ones that you could put in place.