JOURNAL ENTRY NO.

Taking Charge of the Self

For our last topic for the semester we covered on taking charge of the self or on caring for
our self when coping with stress and how we react to it. Our bodies have automatic reactions
when we encounter stressful situations which are called physiological reactions. When the brain
recognizes a threat, analyzes it, and sends signals to the body to organize whether to fight or to
run. The heart begins to beat faster, blood rushes to the arms and legs to organize you to run or
fight something, it is what we call a fight or flight response. A personal example would be
whenever I get into disputes or arguments, whenever I can feel a hostile intent from my enemy, I
can feel my body often heating up and my guard naturally raises itself, and adrenaline fills up the
system heightening my body’s reactions preparing me for what may come. Furthermore the body
also has emotional reactions to stress such as fear, anxiety, and sadness, which are very common
reactions. These responses often come up in situations such losing a loved one, failing a test, or
from a heart break. These reactions are completely normal, they are present in the body to help
us cope up to potentially dangerous situations. Each and every one of us have to face different
kinds of stress and we also have our ways of reacting to it, it is not a sign of weakness but rather
facing our problems head on at our own pace is our greatest strength no matter how long it may
take.
During the discussion our bodies were compared to a string of yarn, whenever we are
distressed or feel uncomfortable we are coiled tightly and jumbled, if given enough time our
body will eventually unwind and bounces back from being stressed. However, if
it doesn't unwind, the string becomes more coiled as stress piles up, and will probably lead to
unbearable tension.