Stress Management Plan Paper

Part 1

The stressor I have chosen for this project is fear of losing loved one. I was a really easy-going girl with a chilling attitude but as the pandemic named covid-19 struck, it has developed in me a fear of losing my loved ones as I lost a special friend in this pandemic. As I am far away from my family, it was a tough time for me.

I have created my own stress management plan below to reduce my stress.

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Step 1:

Identify 5 major stressors of your life:

1- Fear of losing a loved one

2- Over thinking

3- Stress for future

4- Panic and anxiety while presenting my ideas and thoughts in front of others.

5- High expectations from life

Step 2:

Intervention: where A is for anger and F is for fear.

1- Fear of losing a loved one – Triggers fear (F)

2- Over thinking – Triggers fear and anger (F&A)

3- Stress for future- Triggers anger (A)

4- Panic and anxiety while presenting my ideas and thoughts in front of others – Triggers anger and fear (A&F)

5- High expectations from life – Triggers anger (A)

Step 3:

Integration:

1- Mind:

My mind feels overwhelmed by the load I have been carrying.

One thing to establish mental balance: Trying some meditation.

2- Emotions:

A strange sense of fear occupies me during most of the time of the day.

One thing to establish mental balance:

Watch some cartoons or comedy show to distract my self

3-Body:

Constant stress has given me a dull face and acne problems.

One thing to establish mental balance:

Taking multivitamins and healthy diet can help.

4-Spirit:

My stressor like fear of losing a loved one involve my relationships and while high expectations from life involves values.

One thing to establish mental balance:

To spend some time alone in the garden, watching birds chirping.

Step 4:

Stress management strategy:

Skills that now you are using:

1- Exercise

2- Watching cartoons

3- Watching a comedy show

Skills you want to incorporate:

1- Journal writing (unwritten letters) Chapter 11, page 243

2- Expressive art therapy (Human butterfly) Chapter 12, Worksheet 12.1

Relaxation skills you are using:

Deep breathing exercises
Warm baths

Relaxation skills you want to incorporate:

Music therapy
Meditation
Reiki

I have chosen to resolve my stress through journal writing which mentions a part of it known as the unwritten letters where I can give a way to words that are captured inside me so that I can make way for new positive thoughts. (Chapter 11 Journal writing, page 243). The two worksheet I have chose are Journal writing and The Human Butterfly.

Journal writing: Chapter 11, Exercise 11.1)

The journal writing has helped me to release a lot of my negative thoughts and feelings that were trapped inside me. It has also helped me to communicate with my friend whom I couldn’t meet due to the pandemic and he passed away. There were a lot of things I wanted to say and express but couldn’t say him so I wrote them in the letter.

The Human butterfly: (chapter 12, Exercise 12.1)

The Human butterfly has helped me to explore my qualities like forgiveness, kindness and generosity while at the same time, telling me that I need to get more of forgiveness and positive emotions inside me.

I have planned to manage my stress by formulating them according to S.M.A.R.T goals.

Where Specific= Targeting the thoughts of fear and anger of losing my loved ones and for stress about future.

Measurable: noticing the change in my thinking at the end of 7th day by assessment of the letter I will write and also by drawing the butterfly to see which qualities have been incorporated me in this course of time.

Achievable: My goals are achievable because I have set them up realistically and given it a time of 07 days.

Relevant: These goals are relevant because they are very critical to my well-being. I need to attain them to achieve the peace of mind and body.

Time bound: Achieving a moderate level of positive thinking attitude within one week. (Within 7 days).

I have tried to resolve my stress problems that are fears of losing a loved one as well as stresses about my future and higher expectations from life. I have chosen two apply two techniques to resolve these issues. One is journal writing (Chapter 11, Page 243) which will help me to unleash my negative thoughts and energy. Second technique, which I have tried to incorporate is the human butterfly in which I will write about my qualities that I already have and will also indicate the qualities that I think, I need to incorporate in my life and in my spirit. (Chapter 12 Exercise 12.1) I will also incorporate behavior modification model (Chapter 10, Page 232) in my life so that I can realize that I am continuously stressing about things that are not only affecting my physical health but also my mental health. I will try to abolish my negative thoughts of fear and anger. I will use the steps including

Awareness of my problem:
I have problem of having lots of negative thoughts and fear about losing my loved ones.
Desire to change:
I want to change for my physical and mental well-being.
Cognitive restructuring:
Whenever I will catch myself with these fears, I will reverse this thinking with thinking about positive things in life like family, food, love and happiness.
Behavioral cognition:
Whenever I will feel stressed, I will start imagining positive scenarios in my mind looking towards a healthy and beautiful life and will do deep breathing exercises.
Evaluation:
After employing this behavior for one week, I will reflect on my personality and will observe if I am happier of a person now or not.

I hope that I will become more of a positive person and will overcome my fear and anger issues. My worries will lessen and I will feel relaxed. My find will be free of stresses to a good level. I think my plan will work for me because I am fully motivated to excise it. I believe that these strategies will help me because they have worked for a lot of people and have prevented their visits to the psychiatrists.

Part 2:

Products of my work

The Human Butterfly

Exercise 12.1

Chapter 12

Stress Management Plan Paper

Part 3:

I initiated a stress management program including behavioral modification therapy (Chapter 10, page 232) and two techniques from workbook i.e. The Human butterfly chapter 12 (Exercise 12.1) and journal writing (Chapter 11, exercise 11.1). I remodeled my thinking using behavioral modification model by always substituting my negative thoughts with positive ones, considering the blessings of God that I have and should be thankful for like my family, money, life, health etc. I also made a butterfly where I identified the areas which needed improvement showing that I need to incorporate happiness, trust, positivity and bravery in my life while letting go of the negativity, sadness and fear. And after a week I drew it again to see if I have improved myself or not. I observed that I was more happy, positive and fearless. My trust in God also improved considerably. Similarly, to get rid of my negative thoughts of fear and anger that I felt at losing my friend, I wrote him letters that I know won’t reach him but they helped me flush out the frustration, anger that I had on myself for not meeting him before he left me forever. Of all these techniques, I have got maximum benefit from journal writing which has helped me a lot to recover myself from the trauma and not consider myself responsible for what had happened. The human butterfly technique helped me to recognize my weaknesses and I am still working to improve them though a week time is not enough for it, only little improvement has happened till now. My patterns are a bit different from the previous one. Now if I talk about the behavior modification therapy, it has made me conscious that I need to refrain from my negative thoughts and so, I am working on it by modifying my thoughts from negative to positive, seeing positive side of life but I relapse sometimes in between and the progress has been slow. I expected that at the end of this management program, my stress will be managed to a great level but still I am lagging behind. My improvement will take more time but I am looking forward to carry on these all activities because they are providing me the benefits I desired.

Reference:

Seaward, B. (2011). The art of peace and relaxation workbook. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Seaward, B. L. (2018). Managing stress: principles and strategies for health and wellbeing (Ninth). Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Stress Management Plan Paper