Supporting Student Success

Make meaning out of stressful situations

Traffic jams, deadlines, relationships, health, finances, living in this modern world … we have countless reasons to be stressed. Stress is a normal part of life, nothing can protect us from having to face stressful situations. If we want to know how much stress we experienced, we can take a look at The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale - Stress Management from Mind Tools. By evaluating every life event that we have been through we can understand our stressors, and observe its effect on our health.

Actually, Indonesia is among the world’s less stressed countries - Health - The Jakarta Post. According to Cigna 360 Wellbeing survey in 2018. Based on the survey, the stress level of the respondents in Indonesia was only 61 points, compared with the global average of 61.2 points. Cigna Indonesia said in a statement that Indonesia’s stress level was considered low because only 75 percent of the respondents claimed that they suffered from stress, compared to a global average of 86 percent. In comparison, more than 91 percent of respondents in Singapore and Thailand claimed that they suffered from stress.

However, it doesn’t mean that we are immune from the stress effect. WHO defines stress as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. Stress is our body's response to anything that requires attention or action. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way we respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to our overall well-being.

We need to remember that stress is not an entirely bad experience, there are two kinds of stress; good stress (or eustress) and bad stress (or distress). Good stress (eustress) helps us to focus on our goals and complete important tasks. Without good stress, we would fail to achieve our greatest accomplishment, because great accomplishments usually would be more stressful. Bad stress (distress) is not productive, hinders our achievement, and diminishes our spirit (McIntosh, Horowitz, 2017).

What we need to be aware of is the sign of distress (bad stress) so we can do something to overcome it. Several signs of distress are:

1. Feeling Restless, increased heart rate, pale face

2. Sleeping difficulties

3. Loss of appetite or overeating

4. Irritability

5. Difficulties to concentrate

6. Physical symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, stomach ulcers, excess excessive sweating.

According to Mc Kelly if we are able to reframe our perception of stress we will receive more benefits from our experience. When we see stressful situations as our enemy it will make us feel helpless, as the result, we can suffer negative effects. The alternative is to view stress as “a signal of meaning”. We don’t stress out about things that don’t matter to us, stress is a sign there’s something going on that we care about. We should learn to face this uncomfortable feeling, so we can adapt to the differences that are constantly happening around us. Rather than avoid stress we can make good use of it. Here is an image of some examples of how we can reframe our thoughts in certain situations.

Our belief about stress has a big effect on our health as the stress itself. If we understand that a moderate level of stress is good for our mind and body, we could benefit from the experience. Several benefits of a moderate level of stress are:

1. Stress helps us stay sharp because it makes our brain keep on learning.

2. Stress enhances motivation.

3. Stress can promote bonding between people who has similar experiences

4. Stress helps us to perform better because it makes us more alert.

5. Stress can give us the stimulation we need to develop ourselves as long as we’re able to see that stress is a worthwhile challenge.

Another way to view stress is the dichotomy of control approach. The principle of the dichotomy of control says that there are things we can control in life and things that we can't. True happiness can only come from things that are within our control. And we can't build our happiness on things that we can't control, such as other people's behavior, other people's opinions, status and popularity, wealth, and so on. When we depend on things outside of ourselves for happiness, we will find that this only brings stress. The picture below shows the illustration of the dichotomy of the control approach:

• Things that are within your control: your thoughts and actions.

• Things that are outside of your control: everything else.

Once we understand the concept of the dichotomy of control, we can focus more on the things that are within our control, and stop wasting time trying to control the things that we simply cannot. By using this approach we can reduce our stress.

In the end, experiencing stress gives meaning to our life. As Gunthert said, “The things that we are most proud of and bring the most meaning in our lives are hard,” she says. “If we wipe out the stress, we’d also likely wipe away a lot of the meaning in our lives.”

References

Apa Saja Gejala stres? Direktorat P2PTM. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2022, from http://p2ptm.kemkes.go.id/infographic-p2ptm/stress/apa-saja-gejala-stres

Chen, G., Marc, & The Striking Similarities Between Stoicism and Buddhism | The Stoic Sage. (2020, May 12). A stoic guide on the dichotomy of Control and Happiness. The Stoic Sage. Retrieved October 24, 2022, from https://thestoicsage.com/dichotomy-of-control/

Manampiring, H. (2019). Filosofi Teras. Penerbit Buku Kompas.

Kaye, M., McIntosh, D., Horowitz, J., & Hagan, K. (2018). Stress: The psychology of managing pressure. Dorling Kindersley Limited.

Mind Tools content team. “The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale: Understanding the Impact of Long-Term Stress.” Mindtools.com, 2009, www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_82.htm.

Post, The Jakarta. “Indonesia among World’s Less Stressed Countries.” The Jakarta Post, www.thejakartapost.com/life/2018/07/15/indonesia-among-worlds-less-stressed-countries.html.

Selna, Elaine. “How Some Stress Can Actually Be Good for You.” Time, Time, 20 Nov. 2018, time.com/5434826/stress-good-health/.

WHO. “Stress.” Www.who.int, 12 Oct. 2021, www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/stress.