Stress develops because of some type of trauma, which could be physical, emotional, mental, or environmental. When the body feels threatened or fearful, it goes into what is known as a “fight or flight” response. With this, the body chooses to be strong and fight the situation or it becomes overwhelmed with stress and tries to flee.
The interesting thing about stress is that every person is affected differently. For some people, the trigger might be something minor whereas for others, it is a full-blown catastrophe. Regardless, when situations become too hard to manage, the outcome is a feeling of stress. The intensity of the stress is what dictates the way in which it manifests.
Minor Stresses
• Heavy Traffic – For the person with a long commute to and from work through heavy traffic, dealing with honking horns, tailgaters, rude people, and running late all add up over time. The stress coming from this type of situation could be handled in a positive or negative way. Appropriate methods would involve listening to music or an audio book while wrong methods might be driving erratically or even getting involved in a situation of road rage.
• Crying Babies – We all know that babies are going to cry and in most cases parents simply do what has to be done to calm the baby. However, some parents become stressed, especially in cases where the baby has colic and cries continually. For relief, the parent needs assistance from family members or friends, getting some time away to regroup. Unfortunately, child abuse is all too common, a reaction when a parent becomes overly stressed and sees no way out.
Major Stresses
• Death or Divorce – Both incidents can create a significant amount of stress for family and friends. For death, if a person lost his or her life at the hands of another person or died at a young age in a horrific car accident, extremely if that person were close to family and friends, the level of stress could be very high. For divorce, if the couple had only recently been married, in situations of an affair, or for couples married a long time, this too is a huge stressor.
• Illness or Trauma – With this, the individual involved, as well as family and friends would all be at risk for stress. For instance, a loved one developing a major illness such as cancer or a situation of murder or serious car accident would be hard to deal with.
People need to recognize triggers that cause them stress so preventative measures could be taken and appropriate solutions identified. Sometimes, stress is the result of something minor such as a pay check being a day late while other times, it is the more serious situation that triggers stress. People can help themselves by being realistic about life expectations, identifying triggers specific to them, and if needed, talking to a professional that can provide guidance in handling the situation in a safe and effective manner.