Sona Ghukasyan

Introduction to Psychology

Essay on Stress and Coping strategies

July 16, 2023

What is stress? A call to action or a silent destroyer?

In fact, stress is our body's reaction to any change in the environment, and it is an inevitable part
of people's life. Our bodies can experience positive stress (eustress), such as getting married,
having a newborn baby, a promotion in the job, or harmful forms of stress - pressure in the work
or studies, loss of a person, separation, etc. In many situations, stress can act as a survival
mechanism for our body, assisting us to react quickly to life-threatening conditions (WHO,
2023). Specifically, stressors cause hormonal changes and physiological responses that help
people "fight the threat off or flee to safety," known as the "fight-or-flight" response of the body.
However, when we experience stress in other situations, unfortunately, it can hurt our bodies. So
what happens when we experience stress? Indeed, everything begins in the brain. When we
perceive any information, it is sent to the amygdala, an area of the brain that contributes to
emotional processing. Then if the amygdala feels "danger," it sends a distress signal to the
hypothalamus, a command center. Hypothalamus releases adrenaline into the bloodstream,
which circulates through the body. As a result, the heart beats faster, pulse rate and blood
pressure go up, extra oxygen is sent to the brain, increasing alertness, and so we experience
stress (Harvard Health, 2020).

As everybody experiences stress, I am not an exception either, and there are numerous
situations in my life when, unfortunately, I feel that stress overwhelms me more than the things
causing it. In fact, I want to start with minor things that stress me and follow up with bigger
ones. As my temperament is more prone to being chronic, I find that in everyday life, I can
become highly emotional in response to minor situations such as traffic jams, bad weather, or
even slight disruptions to my planned routine. These seemingly insignificant situations have the
potential to trigger stress within me. However, as I get older, I try to control those reactions and
stay positive even if not everything goes exactly as I prefer.
Furthermore, as I work and study simultaneously, it is sometimes tough to be productive both in
my workplace and in my studies. More specifically, deadlines and exam periods put my body
under stress and cause persistent worry and tension for me. In fact, I still did not find that
"golden formula" to deal with this period, but in most cases, I take day-offs in my workplace to
avoid pressure. Moreover, there is a high load in my workplace, and in many cases, it becomes
more challenging to deal with those situations when something needs to be in the production
stage with strict deadlines. Unfortunately, my perfectionist personality sometimes harms my
well-being as I want to do my best in all aspects of life - my studies, workplace, and even the
gym. In addition to my current workload, I am highly sociable, and I always try to maintain a
work-life balance. I put effort into spending time with my family and friends and indulging in
activities that bring me pleasure and fulfillment. In most cases, this works to my advantage, but
sometimes it also can cause stress when I do not manage it all. Actually, I always feel the
harmful consequence of stress on my health as I start having frequent headaches, eating
emotionally, and sugar starts to prevail in my diet. As a result, my skin and blood sugar levels
react to stress and these bad eating habits.

Nevertheless, I would not call the recent period of my life very stressful as I started to control it
over time. However, the same cannot be said about 2020, when our country experienced Covid-
19 and war. Beginning with the pandemic, I experienced fear for my family members and loved
ones. During that period, I intensively exercised at home, lost extra kilograms, and improved my
English. Those activities helped me not to concentrate on the threats of a pandemic. That period
collided with my university admission, when I was supposed to focus on the exams and the
interview, which was full of difficulties. However, when the war started, I understood that
nothing above was the actual stress and depression. All my generation was in the borders, and I
had very close people fighting in Artsakh. To say that it was a difficult period is an
understatement because our nation experienced the loss of a whole generation and lost the war.
Yet, I do not like to speak about this period and my emotions, but that was my most considerable
stress in recent years. Notwithstanding that three years passed, our nation and country are still in
danger, and tension and thoughts about that cannot keep us away from repeating stress.

To sum up, stress is an unavoidable part of our life, but how we respond to it significantly
affects our overall well-being. Experiencing war and dealing with the consequences of it
changed my attitude toward many slight things which could have affected my well-being before.
Considering my perception and attitude toward many things that can happen during the day
helped me become more stable, control my emotions and avoid stress. However, as I mentioned
above, in many situations, overwhelming tasks can seriously reflect on my health. Nevertheless,
I continue to work on myself, and I often read and listen to various psychologists, seeking
guidance on effectively dealing with such situations. One beneficial method for me is going to
the gym, as it assists in getting rid of negative emotions of the day and losing that extra energy
caused by stressors. Listening to music during the workplace also is very useful, as in our
workplace there is a noisy atmosphere that interferes with me. I have already mentioned that I
like to go out with my friends and watch movies and theatre with them, and these kinds of
activities always help me to deal with stress. Moreover, always planning my routine is essential
for emotional stability.
References

Understanding the stress response. Harvard Health. (2020, July 6).

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response

World Health Organization. (2023, February 21). Stress. World Health Organization.
https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/stress