Transcript Format - Arizona State University



Now that you understand stress and it’s causes better, I want to provide you specific ways to apply this understanding. In Part Two, you are provided with a basic overview of stress management. In this section, you will learn about skills that can help you set the stage for successful stress management.

My name is Joana Pabedinskas. I am a health educator senior for wellness and health promotion at ASU in Tempe. I will be your instructor for Part Three of this course.

You have learned that the top stressers of ASU students include academic responsibilities, being overcommitted, financial concerns, romantic relationships, and work commitments. You have also learned that academic success is impeded by these and other stress related factors including over commitment, sleep difficulties, concern for a troubled friend or family member, relationship difficulties, depression and related disorders, and financial concerns.

Information about what causes stress can provide insight in how to prevent, manage, or overcome stressful situations. The skills covered in this section set the stage for stress management. These skills provide support for a variety of common stressers. Like with any skills, the more you practice, the better prepared you will be to use these skills different or in any situation where they are needed.

Becoming more mindful can help reduce stress, help you to think more positively, and reduce worry. Keep in mind that most of what people worry about never happens. The book The Present by Spencer Johnson is a good resource for those who would like to read further about staying in the moment or staying in the present. The Present is an engaging story of a young main striving to obtain happiness and fulfillment in his life. His search for these elusive gifts is told in an insightful story of discovery. View the notes page if you would like information about this book.

Maintaining a positive outlook can help you to succeed. When success is frustrated, it can be a source of stress. Please repeat these positive statements, and think about what they mean to you. It might be helpful to say these statements when you are starting something new.

Belief at the beginning of anything is the one thing that will ensure success.

What the mind can see and believe, it can achieve.

If it is up to me, it will be.

Do you dream about your life after you graduate? What do you need to do to accomplish your dreams? In order to succeed, it’s helpful to start with a picture in your mind of what you would like to be or do, and keep that picture in mind as you work toward your goals.

Picture yourself already being successful at what you would like to do after you graduate. Belief is a very important thing in helping people to reach their goals. Life may present obstacles and challenges that your beliefs will help you to overcome.

It is also important to establish goals and a plan for how to fulfill your dreams. This can reduce stress. This can be compared to taking a cross country trip from Phoenix to New York City. Before you start, you need to plan and map out the route that you would take. This will increase the likelihood of reaching New York City in a timely manner. In the same way, when you plan how you will reach your dreams and goals, you are more likely to achieve them.

For example, Ashley is an 18 year old C student who dreams about getting into the college of nursing and becoming a registered nurse. She plans to study to improve her GPA during her sophomore year. It may also help Ashley to divide her plan into management steps like joining a study group, getting assistance from a tutor, and spending a set amount of time studying each day. In addition, since Ashley is a C student, a realistic goal might be to achieve B grades during the next semester.

Why do you think setting high but realistic goals is important? What are some other manageable steps that Ashley could take to help her meet her goal of making good grades next semester?

By dividing your plan into manageable steps and daily tasks, your ultimate goal will seem easier to reach. Inch by inch is a cinch. Yard by yard is hard.

People are more likely to accomplish what they would like to when they set and write out their goals and make realistic plans. This activity is designed to help you develop this skill. With practice, this skill will become a positive habit.

Please complete the steps to creating a goal worksheet. This worksheet is available as an attachment in this module. Please pause the audio and print it if you have not already done so. Once you have it printed, please press play and complete the following steps:

Step one, write down a dream for yourself that you would like to accomplish in the next one or two years.

Step two, write down weekly goals and tasks that would help you to achieve that dream.

Step three, answer the following questions:

What barriers or things might prevent you from achieving your goal?

What things can you do to overcome those barriers?

Next I will discuss the role that developing positive habits plays in helping to reach your goals. Whether positive, negative, or neutral, a habit is an action that is done routinely without thought. Habits take time to develop and time to change. The earlier habits are made, the more likely they’ll be a part of your life as you grow older, and it is easier not to start a negative habit than it is to stop it once it is started. Or in other words, it’s easier to establish positive habits from the start.

Remember that the top stressers reported by ASU students include academic responsibilities, being overcommitted, financial concerns, romantic relationships and work commitments.

What choices could you make to contribute to or reduce your stress in these areas? Most people if asked could list examples of positive and destructive behaviors. Take a moment to think. What does it mean to you to make choices that reflect this understanding? What difference does that make in regards to your stress levels?

Habits that can have a positive effect on these common stressers include getting adequate sleep, scheduling time for relaxation and responsibilities, self discipline, spending within your budget, developing and maintaining respectful relationships, using assertive communication, eating a well balanced diet to provide the body with the energy and nutrients needed to accomplish daily responsibilities, engaging in regular physical activity, keeping your body and mind clear of destructive thoughts and substances.

Each day we face obstacles to establishing and maintaining productive habits. Often we mistakenly believe that other people that are engaging in or approving of unhealthy behaviors which can entice us to act out of character or make destructive choices. By accepting too many responsibilities or social engagements, we have trouble completely daily tasks and manageable steps toward our goals.

Media often present a distorted image of reality. Music, ads, television, movies and the Internet often make unhealthy choices look glamorous or desirable. Self criticism, negative self talk, and feeling poorly about ourselves can make it difficult to believe in our ability to establish productive habits.

Stress and anxiety that have gone unmanaged mean that you are starting out with a full plate. While this may seem too big, you can tackle your list in manageable steps.

Information is powerful. Without information, it’ll be difficult to develop positive habits. For example, to fuel your body, you need to know which foods are top choices. Junk food, junk T.V., credit card spending, and other unhealthy choices are readily available. These unproductive habits can contribute to stress. If you recognize yourself in these habits, you may wish to work towards positive change.

To make any positive change in your life, you must first recognize that change is needed. Next, learn how to accomplish the desired change. Then make a decision, and commit to the change process. It is important to recognize that change is difficult. Set your goal and write it down. Believe that you can do it because anything is possible when you believe. Take small, manageable steps and keep your eyes on the goal. Build on your strengths and believe in yourself.

Identifying ways in which to overcome obstacles is part of learning to problem solve. It is important to know how to solve problems in order to develop productive habits and lead a healthy lifestyle. The four step process of problem solving includes: identify the problem, determine the cause or causes, decide on the best solutions with the pros and cons, and select the best solution. Here is an example of problem solving using this method:

It is Friday night, and you have procrastinated studying for your midterm exam which is scheduled for 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Your friends have just invited you to hike the Grand Canyon on Saturday and Sunday. You have never been to the Grand Canyon and really wanna go. You know that you need to study at least one day for your test. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity and not go, but you also need to study for your exam.

Identify the problem: want to hike the Grand Canyon, but also need to study for the exam.

Determine the causes of the problem: unexpected opportunity to go to the Grand Canyon and procrastination.

Decide on the best solutions with the pros and cons: First solution: Go hike on Saturday and Sunday. The pro is that you will see the Grand Canyon and spend time with friends. The con is that you may potentially fail the exam.

Second solution: Stay home and study. The pro is you will be prepared for the exam. The con is that you will miss seeing the Grand Canyon and spending time with friends.

Third solution: Go hike, but let your friends know that one day you will study for your exam. The pro is that you will be able to see the Grand Canyon and spend time with your friends. The con is that it may be difficult to spend time studying when friends are hiking.

Select the best solution: Solution three will allow you to meet both of your desires. Another example is listed in the notes section.

Distorted thinking or thinking errors can contribute to stress. All or nothing thinking views everything as either all good or all bad. There is no gray, no middle ground.

Over-generalization views a negative event of a part of a pattern of failure and defeat in your life.

Mental filter or negative colored glasses thinking dwells on and notices the negatives while ignoring the positives.

Discounting the positives, insist that your accomplishments or positive qualities don’t count.

Jumping to conclusions has different forms. (A) Mind reading assumes that people are reacting negatively to you when there’s no definite evidence for this, and (B) fortune telling arbitrarily predicts that things will turn out badly.

Magnification or minimization blows things way out of proportion or shrinks their importance inappropriately making mountains out of molehills and molehills out of mountains.

Emotional reasoning – reasons from how you feel. “I feel like I am an idiot, so I must be one.” Or, “I don’t feel like doing this, so I’ll put it off.”

Should statements – Criticizes self or others with shoulds or shouldn’ts. Musts, ought tos and have tos are similar.

Labeling – Identifies with your shortcomings. Instead of saying, “I made a mistake.” You tell yourself, “I’m a jerk” or a fool or a loser.

Personalization and blame – Blames himself or others for something they weren’t entirely responsible for, or overlooks ways personal attitudes and behavior might have contributed to a problem.

As you may recall, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interrelated as depicted in a triangle. Please complete the correcting negative thought processes worksheet. This worksheet is available as an attachment in this module. Please pause the audio and print it if you have not done so already. Once you have it printed, please press play and complete the following steps:

Imagine a recent situation in which you felt very upset. This may have been something having to do with school, your family, your friends, or your job. Write one to two sentences describing the event.

What feelings are associated with the event? How powerful are these feelings? What are some possible effects of such feelings, for example, during an exam?

Write one to two thoughts that you are having when you were so upset. Next to each thought, identify whether there are examples of these distortions.

Finally, pick a distorted thought and write a rebuttal attempting to be as accurate as possible. Check the feelings again. Any changes?

[End of Audio]

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download