A Month for International Stress Awareness During November, we celebrate International Stress Awareness Day (11/2/2022). The first Wednesday of the month was chosen to represent how to manage difficult days such as the middle of the week. Stress can present in every aspect of our lives. Common places that we all experience stress is at work, home, or school. Stress is our body’s response to a situation that puts us out of our comfort zone. Stress can be a good thing because it can provide us with needed hormones to manage difficult and challenging situations. For example, Cortisol helps your body respond in a “fight or flight” situation by increasing sweating, increasing blood sugar and blood pressure as well as muscle tension. In other words, the body is creating more sugar for the blood to be able to create more energy for muscles to do what they need to do in stressful situations. There are many great ways to encourage a kind, accepting, and including environment for all. However, stress can also be negative when it becomes chronic and all consuming. Creating too much of these psychological reactions can cause serious health issues like hypertension, heart diseases, decreased immunity, loss of sociability, and decreased mental vitality. It is crucial to create balance in our lives to better manage stress. There are many other signs and symptoms of chronic stress including: - Anxiety (difficulty concentrating, irritability, worry, fear about the future, feeling overwhelmed)
- Depression (feeling down, self-doubt, feeling you have let others down, challenges with sleep)
Self-care has been proven to be effective in managing stress in a positive manner. Self-care can include physical exercise, quiet meditation, or even a special treat. The practice of mindfulness is another treatment approach that has been very beneficial in management of stress. Mindfulness involves being present, having an intent or purpose, and being non-judgmental and self-compassionate. Activities can include utilizing our five senses to ground ourselves to the present moment. Also, the use of positive and encouraging self-statements can help to provide ourselves with validation and support during hard times. Examples include: - “This is a hard time and it is ok for me to feel bad”
- “I can control myself and my reactions”
- “I deserve peace”
If you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and having difficulty managing things reach out to a mental health professional for therapeutic treatment. It is ok to need help! A Month for World Kindness We also celebrate World Kindness Day (11/13/2022) in November. Kindness is a basic human quality that creates meaningful, genuine, and caring relationships with others. Kindness is great to experience but can be challenging in how we interact with others. It can be helpful to consider the golden rule: treat others the way you would like to be treated. How can we be kind? Some common gestures or ideas are: - Speaking in a gentle and compassionate tone
- Doing something nice for someone else
- Doing something kind for our planet
- Giving someone a gift
- Calling someone to ask how they are
The following resource has great examples for how to spread kindness in the workplace, school, and home: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/ Here are some quotes to reflect further on kindness and to spread kindness: - “Kindness is doing what you can, where you are, with what you have.” –Raktivist
- “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” –Robert Louis Stevenson
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” –Maya Angelou
- “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” –Amelia Earhart
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