It is unlikely that we will go through life without some experience of personal
crises causing acute pressure for a while . Many people sail through and rebuild
their lives very positively . They are likely to have constructive attitudes and also
have lots of emotional and social support of various kinds available to them .
When we find ways of managing these pressures and can use the energy to create
something positive out of the situation , then we will have learned to survive healthily
and this will leave us more stress fit for future crises .
Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal
effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Our ability to cops depends
on how well we are prepared to deal with and counterbalance everyday, demands and
keep equilibrium in our lives. These life skills can be learned and even improved upon.
Assertiveness, time management , Improving relationships, Self-care, Diet, Exercise.
Assertiveness : Assertiveness is a behaviour or skill that helps to
communicate, clearly and confidently, our fellings, needs, wants and thoughts .
It is ability to say no to a request , to state an opinion without being self- conscious
, or to express emotions such as love, anger etc. openly. If you are essertive , you
feel confident, and have high self- esteem and a solid sense of your own identity.
Time Management : The way you spend your time determines that quality of
our life. Learning how to plan time and delegate can help to relieve the pressure .
The major way to reduce time stress is to change one's preception of time. The central
preception of time management is to spend your time doing the things that you value,
or that help you to achieve your goals.It depends on being realistic about what you
know and that you must do it within a certain time period, knowing what you want to do,
and organising your life to achieve your balance between the two.
Self - Care : If we keep ourselves healthy, fit and relaxed, we are better prepared
physically and emotionally to tackle the stresses of everyday life. Our breathing patterns
reflect our state of mind and emotions. When e are stressed an anxious, we tend towards
rapid and shallow breathing from high in the chest, with frequent sighs. The most relaxed
breathing is slow, stomach- centered breathing from diaphgram, i.e. a dome like muscle
between the chest and the abdominal cavity. Environmental stresses like noise, pollution,
space, light, colour, etc. can all exert an influence on our mood.
Diet : A balanced diet can lift one's mood, give more energy , feed muscles, improve
circulation, prevent illness, strengthen the immune system and make one feel better to
cope with the stresses of life. The key to healthy living is to eat three main meals a day,
and eat a varied well- balanced diet. How much nutrition one needs depends on one's
activity level, genetic make-up, climate and health history . What people eat , and how
much do they weigh involve behavioural process. Some people are able to maintain a
healthy diet and weight while others become obese . When we are stressed, we seek
'comfort foods' which are high in fats, salt and sugar .
Exercise : A large number of studies confirm a consistently positive relationship
between physical fitness and health. Also, of all the measures an individual can take to
improve health, exercise is the lifestyle change with the widest popular approval.
Regular exercise plays an important role in managing weight and stress, and is shown
to have a positive effect on reducing tension, anxiety, depression. Physical exercise that
are essential for good health are stretching exercises such as *** yogic asanas and aerobic
exercises such as jogging , swimming, cycling.
In recent years, there has been a lot of research in understanding resilience in children
and adolescents. Resilience is a dynamic developmental process referring to the maintenance
of positive adjustment under challenging life conditions. It has been described as the capacity
to ‘bounce back’ in the face of stress and adversity. Resilience has been conceptualised as
reflecting feelings of self-worth and self-confidence, autonomy and self-reliance, finding
positive role models, seeking a confidant, cognitive skills such as problem solving, creativity,
resourcefulness, and flexibility and a belief that one’s life has purpose and meaning. Resilient
individuals are able to overcome the effects of trauma, stress and adversity and learn to
live psychologically healthy and meaningful lives.
Resilience has recently been defined in terms of three resources: I HAVE (social and
interpersonal strengths), i.e. ‘people around me I trust and who love me no matter what’, I
AM (inner strengths), i.e. ‘respectful of myself and others’, and I CAN ( interpersonal and
problem solving skills), i.e. ‘find ways to solve problems I face’. For a child to be resilient,
s/he needs to have more than one of these strengths. For example, children may have
plenty of self-esteem (I am), but may lack anyone whom they can turn to for support (I
have), and do not have the capacity to solve problems (I can), will not be resilient. Outcomes
of longitudinal studies of children provide evidence that in spite of extreme vulnerabilities
related to poverty and other social disadvantages, many individuals develop into capable
and caring adults.
Positive health and
well-being can be realised by having a
positive attitude. Some of the factors
leading to a positive attitude are: having a
fairly accurate perception of reality; a sense
of purpose in life and responsibility;
acceptance and tolerance for different
viewpoints of others; and taking credit for
success and accepting blame for failure.
Finally, being open to new ideas and
having a sense of humour with the ability
to laugh at oneself help us to remain
centred, and see things in a proper
perspective.
The power of positive
thinking has been increasingly recognised
in reducing and coping with stress.
Optimism, which is the inclination to
expect favourable life outcomes, has been
linked to psychological and physical wellbeing.
People differ in the manner in which
they cope. For example, optimists tend to
assume that adversity can be handled
successfully whereas pessimists anticipate
disasters. Optimists use more problemfocused
coping strategies, and seek advice
and help from others. Pessimists ignore the
problem or source of stress, and use
strategies such as giving up the goal with
which stress is interfering or denying that
stress exists.
Social support is defined as the existence and availability of people
on whom we can rely upon, people who let us know that they care about, value, and
love us. Someone who believes that s/he belongs to a social network of
communication and mutual obligation experiences social support. Perceived
support, i.e. the quality of social support is positively related to health and well being,
whereas social network, i.e. the quantity of social support is unrelated to
well-being, because it is very time consuming and demanding to maintain a
large social network. Studies have revealed that women exposed to life event stresses,
who had a close friend, were less likely to be depressed and had lesser medical
complications during pregnancy. Social support can help to provide protection
against stress. People with high levels of social support from family and friends may
experience less stress when they confront a stressful experience, and they may cope
with it more successfully. Social support may be in the form of
tangible support or assistance involving material aid, such as money, goods,
services, etc. For example, a child gives notes to her/his friend, since s/he was
absent from school due to sickness. Family and friends also provide informational
support about stressful events.
For example, a student facing a stressful event
such as a difficult board examination, if provided information by a friend who has
faced a similar one, would not only be able to identify the exact procedures involved,
but also it would facilitate in determining what resources and coping strategies could
be useful to successfully pass the examination. During times of stress, one
may experience sadness, anxiety, and loss of self-esteem.
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