Stress Management: An Exercise in Mental Health Paper Example

Stress has always been a way of our body's response to any threat or demand that may be occurring as a result of something. In most cases, when one encounters a challenging issue or a threat, the body reacts through "fight-or-flight" while in psychological cases, the body may result to "stress response" as a way of protecting an individual. However, one of the negative occurrences that have befallen me causing stress was a situation where I had to deal with financial trouble. It was in one of those days around the end of the month when one has to deal with monthly bills and my friend introduced me to a new profit-making scheme. I am not much of a risk-taking character; however, after collecting all the knowledge I needed concerning the project, I decided to invest in it. Even though am used to a culture of saving, I was very willing to risk it all for this opportunity which led me to use all my savings and later on got a credit card debt. It had not taken me a long time to realize that I was losing my money and the opportunity was just another fraud that left me drained off all my finances. I couldn't settle my monthly bills or pay the credit card debt.

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After two weeks, things were getting severe since I started losing sleep, had a lack of appetite, I felt more comfortable spending time alone, and was feeling a lack of motivation to do anything leave alone getting out of the bed. During some of the mornings, I could wake up to texts from my bank asking me to settle my credit card debt and others from the renting agency telling me my monthly rent was overdue. It was challenging for me to perform my daily tasks normally. Something needed to be done, figuring out that I needed to move on and settle my bill especially my credit card debt. I do not like asking funds from my parents; however, I had to that since I did not want to have more debts especially now that I had spent my saving. Also, I responded in other ways such as coming up with better ideas on how I was going to recover my investment. Although the issue was a financial problem, it affected my emotions since the occurrence left me less motivated and scared of making any risks.

Different things could be done to alleviate my feeling concerning the stressful situation. For example, I could first recognize the unresolved emotions that are responsible for guiding (or misguiding) my choices on a daily structure or basis. It looks at helping distinguish which situation delivered a higher amount of emotional stress and those that provided a significant improvement in moods and health. The recognition could also act as a method of releasing "Emotional Baggage" since the emotions can be channeled into other productive activities. Eating right is another way that could help respond to my stressful situation by improving my health. It includes going out with friends which acts as a stress reliever since one can share happy events with them. Also, eating vegetables and fruits (salad) is a way that helps relieve the body hormones.

As another way that could elevate my feelings, daily exercises play a primary role in reducing both emotional (psychological) and physical stress. Since stress affects the brain which is connected to many nerves, the rest of the body may feel fatigued. With the assumption of daily exercises, they help in producing endorphin, which is chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers. These chemicals help boost and improve the ability to sleep which later on reduces stress and levels of tension, improve self-esteem, and stabilize and elevate moods. Exercising can be linked with other activities (such as meditation, massage therapy, and acupuncture) which can also cause the production of endorphins. However, swimming is among the things that improve my moods. Also, cognitive behavioral therapy has delivered significant influence to my feelings and moods. According to Craske (2010), cognitive behavior therapy takes a practical approach to solving problems. It is a talking therapy that has helped me in managing my problem through changing my perceptions of how I think and behave about the situation causing the stress (Financial problem).

Conclusion

As a result of using different stress management such as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), I have managed to gather and learn positive things from the negative occurrence (Santos-Ruiz et al., 2017). Learning to avoid and manage stress is one thing and understanding the dynamics of proper decision-making is another. From this situation, I have been able to understand the importance of appropriate decision making especially in managing finances, making investments and taking the necessary. On the other hand, I have learned the different approaches to managing stress especially in maintaining mental health since most of the psychological trouble deliver physical effects too. Stress are a natural occurrence in life; however, managing stress seeks closure. Through the learning concerning stress, I have achieved closure concerning the negative incident.

References

Craske, M. G. (2010). Cognitive-behavioral therapy. American Psychological Association.

Santos-Ruiz, A., Robles-Ortega, H., Perez-Garcia, M., & Peralta-Ramirez, M. I. (2017). Effects of the cognitive-behavioral therapy for stress management on executive function components. The Spanish journal of psychology, 20.