What is Stress?

Stress is a natural response to challenging situations. It is a feeling we all experience often; whether we have a test we didn’t study for enough, or have a game coming up, that feeling you experience is stress.

How does it differ from anxiety?

Stress gets mistaken for anxiety often as they have very similar symptoms. Stress
always has a certain reason (like a test or game) while anxiety isn’t worrying about specific
events and it is more of an ongoing feeling.

How could someone manage stress?

By taking care of your physical self it will also help your mental self. Eating healthy, getting exercise, meditating, and even laughing with your friends all are stress helpers. It is important to maintain a healthy routine while also taking breaks whenever you need. There are five “R’s” of stress management: relocate, relax, reframe, re-center, and redirect.

“Relocate” has to do with your environment, taking space from what is stressing you.
For example if you are stressed about all your work, step away and take a walk outside.

“Relax” is simply calming yourself down with breathing and calming activities like listening to music or doing yoga.

“Reframe” is identifying what is stressing you and looking at it from different perspectives. For example, a math test you’ve been stressing over will not affect you in a year.

“Re-center” is knowing yourself and stabilizing your goals. Then finally you need to redirect
which means do other activities and hobbies you like to do.