Today is National Stress Awareness day. But with the start of another lockdown many people may have a heightened awareness of their stress today.
Stress is personal with everyone experiencing it differently. Peoples vulnerability to stress can be represented by a ‘Stress Container’. Individuals stress vulnerability varies, fluctuating between small and large stress containers.
The size of your Stress Container is down to a combination of factors; genes, your life experiences and environment all play a significant role.
Interesting. But why are you telling me this?
Well. Research on the first lockdown showed that stress levels generally increased. I’m not saying that this will happen again but forewarned is forearmed.
When your stress levels build up, the container overflows and issues develop. Reflecting on the sources of your stress means you’ll be able to use helpful coping strategies to act as a tap to let stress out of the container and stop it from overflowing.
A visual graphic explaining the Stress Container model with helpful and unhelpful coping methods can be found in the comments.
Wishing you well during this lockdown.
And hoping today you have a good mental health day.