How to Handle Family Stress

Stress. It is one of those things in life that no one wants to deal with but it is something we have to deal with.  Stress is change likely to be required, even if only temporary.  To someone who doesn't like change, such as myself, stress can be one most challenging things to face and overcome.  But just because something is hard does not mean it is impossible.  We can all do hard things!
In our class's discussion this week we looked at the different stressors in families.  In my opinion part of the reason why humans stress so much has to do with our attitude towards the situation.  A common cause of stress is that people get fixed on the danger of a stressor and therefore can not think clearly.  The Chinese write the word crisis like this...


The Chinese see that when crisis's come there can either be danger or an opportunity to grow and learn from the experience.  Even though these stressor's  in our lives are very and feel unbearable they can actually help us grow and be become better individuals and create closer relationships.

For some of you who have read my blog before you probably noticed that in this family relations class we like to use models and diagrams to make a point.  Well get ready because here comes another one...

A= actual event
B= both responses
C= cognition's
---------------------
eXperience

With this diagram we learn that every family has a different experience even if they are going through the same stressor.  Depending on the event, how we respond and how we think about the situation determines the overall experience we have.  Having a good attitude with a hard situation will help us learn and be able to use our new knowledge for future struggles.  It will also bring us more confidence in future trials because we have been through hard times before.