Causes of Stress
Before diving into the causes of stress, let’s take some time to define stress. Stress can be thought of as the feeling you get when you are pushed out of your comfort zone.
Most of us like our comfort zones. It’s that warm and fuzzy environment that we go back to over and over. If we really had our way, we would never leave our comfort zone. Think of a big, soft easy chair, your favorite TV show (football game, movie, you-fill-in-the-blank), your favorite drink at hand, and you’re smiling at the thought of having this time. There is no way you’re going to not enjoy this moment. Then the phone rings (doorbell rings, baby cries, spouse shrieks, you-fill-in-the-blank). You just got pushed. STRESS!
Believe it or not, it’s good to be stressed. We need to be stressed in order to grow. As children in school, we were always being asked to study new ideas and learn new ways of doing things. In those days, we never really experienced stress because experiencing new things was normal. Our comfort zones were ever-expanding. And with it our experience expanded as well, making us capable of handling a multitude of issues and tasks that have now made us into productive, self-sufficient adults.
So even now, as adults, we need to be stressed in order to grow. We all experience new technology that provide benefits that hopefully outweigh the frustrations that come with learning how to use it. Physically, we are told that we need to exercise in order to be healthy. Exercise is stressing our body in order to make it grow stronger. See, all good things.
So stress is good, right? Then why, if you ask just about anyone, would they say stress is bad? That’s because of our comfort zones. Somehow, someway, when we get to a point in our adult lives, we just stop expanding (probably not our waistlines, just our comfort zones). As we get older, we get more rigid in what we accept as change and we just don’t like getting pushed around any more. Unless we’re in a position to change our environment, somehow this resentment about being bullied just builds up.
A psychologist, Albert Ellis, created a model of how this works. It’s very important to understand this model in order to understand how you are stressed and how you can overcome it.
Next Step:
The ABC Model helps you understand the causes of stress.
Other Steps in this Section:
Activating events are those events in your environment that cause you to get stressed.
Your beliefs or thoughts can be a major contributor to your stress.
Activating events coupled with your beliefs end up with the consequences of stress.
Understanding Your Stressful Situations
Once you become aware of your present situation, you can then begin to understand your stress.
Possible Solutions to Your Stress
Solving your stress depends on what works for you.
Action – Strategies for Success
Take action in order to reduce or eliminate your stress.
Our Subconscious Stress – Fight or Flight
Our fight or flight response is nature’s own stress inducer.
