Definition Essay About Stress

Hans Selye defined stress as, “the nonspecific response to the body to any demand for change.” Stress is in us all, it is how individually we react to it. This is what makes each of us unique. Stress does not have to determine our future. The most important lesson to learn is try not to stress the little things in life. This is important as it affects you daily at school, in your family, and your future. Learning to put things in perspective is important to dealing with daily stresses. A little worry and desire to achieve our best is ok, but when we get overwhelmed by these feelings, problems can occur. I walked into Middle School repeating the mantra “don’t sweat the small stuff”. New school, new friends, new environment, no problem. At
The five minute drive felt like an eternity. As we would near the school, my stomach would start to churn and my head would begin to pound. Most mornings I would call my mom to come pick me up because I thought I couldn’t make it one more minute. She would spend hours being my biggest cheerleader: reminding me what a strong student I was, how many friends I had, everything she could think of to make the idea of school less scary. After a couple weeks, my mom knew we had to develop a plan to help ease my transition to middle school. We spoke to my pediatrician who suggested some herbal treatments that help with anxiety. My mom read lots of books on the subject and acquired a notebook with various activities that helped me journal how the stress and anxiety were affecting my everyday actions. It was very important to my mom that I felt empowered to solve this problem on my own. She knew I would face tough things throughout my life so figuring out how to deal with stress would be so important. Learning how to distract my brain when I begin to feel uneasy was a huge part of the plan. I began talking to some of my friends about how they were dealing with school and discovered that a lot of them were experiencing exactly what I was feeling. It made me realize I was not alone. We began relying on each other for support and suggestions on how to handle our