Stressed? Hakuna Matata!
Beginning to understand how stress can be my friend and not my enemy with prep work assigned by the “Hakuna Matata” ideology educator, mavilaza.
Recently, I have been experiencing large amounts of stress due to finals, getting that part-time summer job, relationships, and just life in general. People can help relieve stress, but like my former Psychology professor said, people can also be the source of stress. Many of these little things pile up into one giant problem that gets overwhelming and difficult to the point where I find it hard to breathe in a lot my classes or concentrate on anything. In order for me to cope with stress, I take time for myself to just do something that makes me genuinely happy. Take that nice walk to Uno Tea House for boba and a sweet treat. Go to the library and get lost in the wonderful world centered around 221B Baker Street. Spend time with my society or family watching that new Fast and Furious movie. Crafting cute trinkets for my society members. Even something as simple as listening to and watching Kpop videos with earphones on can help alleviate my stress. Other times, it’s just great to get out stress by doing something to express how I feel. Talking to those who are willing to listen whether they are my family member, society member, close friend, professor, or therapist. Making art or compositions that are representative of my feelings and mental state. Playing sports or hiking to have my mind and body focus on a task and unleash my frustrations into that task.
After watching this amazing TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal, I found her final statements to be very impactful and relatable. She explained:
“Chasing meaning [in life] is better for your health than trying to avoid discomfort…that’s really the best way to make decisions is go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.”
This in particular really stuck out to me because often times, I find that my life is more stressful because of the choices I make for myself. I’m typically the queen of unpopular opinion, and it gets stressing when there isn’t much support from other people in what I say and what I want to do. I feel like an outsider that is weird and outside of the norm of society’s rigid standards, and that is very stressing and triggers the anxiety in me. However, I would rather continue pursuing being true to who I am and what I want to do and receive the brunt of being “different” than to have to it easier by always agreeing with society and conforming to its standards. I learned that oxytocin, something released when people hug each other, is actually a stress hormone. Nothing really surprised me as I had already ventured into this subject and agreed with a lot of the points McGonigal claimed especially about how having some stress is healthy. Having too much of something is bad. Having too little is also bad. It’s the balance between these two that is important to have to be healthier.
