Picture credit - FilmDaily
Day 60 - Coping with Stress
8 June 2020
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sirurp@gmail.com
My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two movies on coping with Stress.
Movie 1 - Amélie (2001)
Amélie is a waitress at a Café.
She had a stressful childhood because of her eccentric parents. Her parents incorrectly believed that their child has a heart defect and decided to home-school her. To cope with her loneliness, Amélie develops an active imagination and a mischievous personality.
By accident, she finds her purpose - to spread joy and happiness wherever she goes.
She secretly executes complex schemes that bring happiness in the lives of those around her.
For example, she escorts a blind man to the Métro station, giving him a rich description of the street scenes he passes, she persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world, she starts a romance between her hypochondriacal co-worker and one of the customers in the bar, she convinces the concierge of her block of flats, that the husband who abandoned her had sent her a final conciliatory love letter just before his accidental death years before.
Once in a while she gets creative when playing pranks to torment the mean-spirited.
In the end, this good samaritan, allows herself to find the happiness and love she deserves.
The learning
Practice to take joy in little things in life (like Amélie practices - dipping her hand into sacks of grain, cracking crème brulée with a teaspoon, skipping stones at St. Martin’s Canal...)
Create a higher purpose (like what Amélie had - to spread joy and happiness wherever she goes)
Make it a point to connect regularly—and in person—with family and friends (There is nothing more calming than spending quality time with another human being. Such interactions trigger a cascade of hormones that counteract the body’s defensive “fight-or-flight” response. It’s nature’s natural stress reliever - Source - HelpGuide).
Movie 2 - Destressed (2014)
This movie is a man's journey to get de-stressed.
Who does not have stress in today's world?
It took a man like Garry Pastore (Actor and Director of the film) to bring this to our attention and to show us what can happen if we do not do something to fix this problem
This movie is a look into a man's stress related illness and his way back to a healthy, happy life
On his journey he meets several people who have all the reasons to be stressed or depressed; we meet survivors of hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes, we meet a young military soldier who lost his arm and both legs, a 106 year old woman who, I am sure, must have seen so many tragedies and deaths of her dear ones in her life, a paraplegic woman who has seen life only from her wheelchair since childhood…...
Not one of the people interviewed says, "poor me, look how bad my life is". No matter what story is told, and what blow life dealt them, everyone was positive and smiling
At the end, he comes home to peace and tranquility after witnessing other people's tragedies and how they face the new life with positive attitude.
The learning
Be grateful for what you have
Be aware that life is full of events many of which are outside of your control
Make your life beautiful by taking care of your body, mind and soul (and celebrating whenever you do this)
Invest at least some of your time in acts that make you happy
Take a vow to create your own story of how you destress
My learning so far on this topic
Day 10 post - What is Hans Selye’s stress theory?, Ways to cope with stress
Day 20 post - Symptoms of stress, Main causes of workplace stress, Holmes-Rahe stress inventory
Day 30 post - Stress and Anxiety; are they different?, Mobile Apps to cope up with stress
Day 40 post - Two TED talks - All it takes is ten mindful minutes & How to make stress your friend
Day 50 - Two books - Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers & Manage Your Time to Reduce Your Stress
What is stress?
When you perceive a threat or a major challenge, chemicals and hormones surge throughout your body. This is called stress. It is basically a survival mechanism of our body.
There is good stress (eustress), bad stress (acute stress) and chronic stress
Eustress is the type of stress when we feel excited e.g. when riding a roller coaster or when competing for a promotion etc.
Acute stress is a short term stress because of some stressors e.g. stuck in a traffic jam when we are late for a meeting, an argument with your spouse, an unkind criticism from your boss etc.
Chronic stress is a long term stress brought on by continual acute stresses when we repeatedly face stressors. This condition gives a feeling of helplessness and a feeling of being put in inescapable state. Chronic stress causes many physical and mental health related issues e.g. heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of coping with stress.
Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of coping with stress.
Learn - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of coping with stress
Apply -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with respect to coping with stress
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used for sharing/ training others
Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of skills
- cognitive skills for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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