Learning Journal: Stress Management
Introduction
Stress is the “wear and tear” our bodies experience as we adjust to our continuously changing environment (2005). It is said to have physical and emotional effects towards us, such that it can create positive or negative feelings, leading to action, new awareness and perspectives (2005). The importance of stress lies on the fact that its presence in our system involves a myriad of constructive and destructive emotions, which allows us to develop and improve as human beings. This is why this journal will be useful for me to assess my learning in relation to stress management and its application to my development and improvement as a person.
Learning Journal
It has been reported that stress management includes techniques aimed at equipping a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress (2007). This type of management is very well needed because it enables us to assess our personalities and our approach towards several aspects surrounding us that may become sources of stress. Managing stress is important, for it allows us to adopt and learn skills and strategies, which would enable us cope with the demands of life and the physical, emotional, and mental pressures that may affect us.
As mentioned, stress is being affected by several factors, including work, family, love life, personality, technology, other persons, the community, and the society as a whole. If we are not adept in coping with the demands and the changes that happen brought about by the myriad of these factors, then we will not be able to fight and survive the effects of stress. Because of this, I believe that to be able to adopt and apply strategies and techniques in stress management, it is essential first to examine and assess our own personalities, emotional intelligence, and competencies.
(2004) uses the illustration of an iceberg to emphasize the difference between our personality and character, wherein, personality corresponds to the tip of the iceberg, showing what people first see and includes our image, techniques, and skills that can influence outward success, while what underlies the tip of an iceberg is its body, which corresponds to our character, encompassing our integrity, maturity and mentality.
In relation to this, I believe that personality includes our positive and negative habits, or the intersection of our knowledge, skills and desires (2004). This is because the interaction of these three aspects influences our actions in dealing with certain circumstances. In addition, knowledge, skills, and desires build our image as a whole, and this image is what we usually show to our peers. However, the interaction of these three aspects also contributes to building stress. The accumulation of too much knowledge or “information overload” can cause migraines and severe headaches, and may impair the proper function and thinking of an individual. Personally speaking, I also tend to experience this in several instances, thus, causing me terrible headaches in the long-run. Likewise, having the lack of knowledge regarding certain topics or issues can also cause pressure and in turn, too much stress. The accumulation of knowledge would not be useful without applying them, so skills become action of knowledge. The development and application of our skills can also cause stress, especially when dealing with other individuals in a group or team. I believe that knowledge and skills goes hand in hand with one another, and enables one to become successful in any endeavor. However, an important factor to take note of is the role of our emotional intelligence in the development of knowledge and skills. Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, identify, and manage emotions, and provides the basis for the kinds of social and emotional competencies (2000). The development of our emotional intelligence determines the way in which we deal with our personality and character as a whole. I also deem as true that a well-developed emotional intelligence can control our desires and habits, such that our personality and character will be regarded as pleasant and positive. Moreover, I believe that through a developed emotional intelligence, we will be able to cope with stress more easily because being emotionally intelligent means that one is more adept in addressing problems and pressures being presented to him or her. He or she is more emotionally and mentally mature in dealing with pressures and problems being encountered. In this way, the use of positive and negative emotions would be well balanced to properly and effectively assess the situation.
In relation to work, several competencies are associated to emotional intelligence, and these include self-awareness, self-confidence, self-motivation, social competence, and social skills. Self-Awareness is our ability to read and understand emotions as well as determine their effects on work performance and relationships, and the evaluation of our individual strengths and limitations (2000). Self-Confidence is having a strong and positive sense of self-worth, while Self-Motivation or Self-Management involves the drive to meet an internal standard of excellence, the readiness to seize opportunities, the ability to keep disruptive emotions and impulses under control, and skills at adjusting to changing situations and overcoming obstacles (2000). Social Competence involves the skill at sensing other people’s emotions, understanding their perspective, and taking an active interest in their concerns, while Social Skills involve the development of leadership, communication, conflict management, and teamwork and collaboration (2000).
The interaction of these competencies takes part in the development of our emotional intelligence. However, the development of these competencies is not simultaneous with one another, such that, one or two competencies is or are more developed compared to other competencies. This difference in development is brought about by the differences in our personalities and character, which are also affected by several factors in our overall development as a person. This is why several emotional intelligence tests and diagnostics are being developed to help one assess or evaluate his or her emotional intelligence quotients. In assessing one’s emotional intelligence and knowing his or her lack of development in certain aspects, one will be able to find ways and adopt techniques that would help in the development and improvement of his or her emotional intelligence.
I believe that this information is essential to take note of and discussed to be able to manage and handle stress. From these, I can say that I was able to gain knowledge and information from the modules, which are useful in my aim and objective in managing stressful factors and situations. Knowing the several competencies that affect emotional intelligence is useful in determining my weaknesses and lack of development in certain aspects. Through this, I will be able to engage in activities that can improve my skills in developing my personality and skills in relating with other people. With my personal development and improvement, I will be able to address problems and crises in managing stress.
At present, I can say that I do not have the developed skills and techniques in managing and handling stressful situations and the factors along with it. I perceive it as consequences of my lack of development in terms of emotional intelligence and control over my negative habits that contribute to my mismanagement of my own stress levels and the factors that affect it. Because of this, I believe that the right and proper thing to do is to adopt and apply some of the seven positive habits of (2004).
First habit that can be applied is being proactive, which involves the four human endowments, including self-awareness, imagination, conscience, and independent will (2004). With the stimulation of stress, I can apply this first habit by understanding first my emotions and evaluating my strengths and weakness. Through self-awareness, I can use my imagination, conscience, and independent will to come up with a response towards the stimulus or stress.
The second habit that can be adopted and applied is to begin with the end in mind, which involves visualizing where you want to be and planning how to get there. It involves observing integrity, which will enable me to earn trust and respect from others, gain rewards of hard work, and believe in self and my decisions (2004). With this visualization and implementation, I will be able to develop my interpersonal leadership skills, effective communication and creative coordination with myself, which can all be applied and used in building effective and efficient interrelationships with others. Through the use and development of this habit, I would have the opportunity to relate effectively with myself and foster a good relationship with my inner being. Having a good intrapersonal relationship would allow me to assess and evaluate my abilities and skills, thus, would help me in the future to address problems and crises brought about by several factors surrounding me. Therefore, this would make me a stronger individual in managing and handling stress.
The last habit that I can adopt and apply in managing stress is the seventh habit, which is to sharpen the saw, or the process of using and continuously renewing the physical, social, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of my life (2004). Physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual renewal would be very useful because through these, I will be able to develop my self even more, with the help of other people, such as my family, friends and the community. Physical renewal involves developing and improving my physical strength and well-being through exercise and sports; mental renewal is having new knowledge and learning, such as taking up academic or technical courses; and emotional renewal involves being happy and contented with what is happening to my life right now and with the things I am involved with. These renewals will not be effective without the interaction and involvement of other individuals, which allows me to undergo social renewal. The activities that I have mentioned will allow me to interact with other individuals and the community, and help me give importance to spiritual renewal, which is being contented and happy with all the blessings that I have and enjoy. This would strengthen my relationship with God, and enable me to gather knowledge, skills, and strength in overcoming stress. Thus, these developments would give me the opportunity to know myself, therefore, making life easier and stress more manageable.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, I was able to point out that stress management is important to be able to control and manage all the factors related to stress. In addition, I was able to emphasize that habits and emotional intelligence play significant roles in the development of an individual, which would enable one to manage and handle stress effectively. To be able to manage and control stress, we should be able to adopt and apply several positive habits stated by (2004), to help us improve and develop our personality and character.
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