IUP College Writing

My name is Austin. I am going to be blogging about stress, what causes it, and how to cope with it. An official definition of stress is "the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made on it." But, in my opinion stress is when pressure is placed on the body, but not necessarily the physical body. It is on the mind. Stress is something that for me seems to cause a weight to lay on my chest. I get stressed whenever I have a lot of homework, or whenever I am in a situation that could lead to an argument, or an unfavorable situation. There are seven major stressors. They are, "life changes, chronic stress, job stress, hassles, frustration, conflicts, and cataclysmic events." The biggest life change that causes stress is a death of a spouse. But, as the article says, hassles can cause some of the worst stress because they then can lead to life changes, which lead to more stress. For example if you are having financial troubles or troubles with your kids, which are hassles, it could lead to divorce. Frustrations can cause minor stress because things such a waiting in line or being put on hold on the phone whenever you only have so much time generally cause people to become irritated. This in turn causes people to become frustrated an then they become stressed. As I said above, a conflict or an impending conflict causes me to become stressed. It is knowing that I may get in a argument that causes me to become angry which then causes me to be stressed. Finally, cataclysmic events cause stress. For the average college student these events probably don’t bother many of us. But, people that are affected by the event, or who are in charge of rescue or clean up will probably become stressed. After writing this, and reading the brief article on stress I see that nobody can escape it. For me that something, such as a project or paper, is always in the back of my mind. Even when I am trying to enjoy something, that thought always comes back to me, and I become stressed.