1. Understanding Stress
Aim: How can we understand stress and identify the changes and stressors that can cause positive and negative stress in life?

2. Do Now Complete these sentences: 1) Stress is…….
2) When I am stressed, I feel……..
Write your response in your notebooks and be ready to share.

3. What might stress be like?
Turn to your partner and briefly share a stressful event that has happened to you in the past year. Describe how this event made you feel.
(Write down what the event was, and how they felt.)

4. What is stress?
STRESS is a feeling of pressure around events, circumstances, or situations. It is a part of life. You can feel stress when facing a difficult situation.
You can also feel stress when facing any kind of change in your life, even when you view the change as a positive one.

5. Scenarios
Scenario 1: You’ve studied hard for a final exam. However, once you’re in class looking at the test, you realize that you don’t know the material at all.
- How do you feel?
- What are you thinking?
- How does your body react?
Scenario 2: Today when you get home from school, you find out that your parent has a new job and your family will be moving to Australia.
- How do you feel?
- What are you thinking?
- How does your body react?

6. Normality
Stress is normal and everyone experiences it. But how you respond to, and deal with stress can play a big part in your emotional health. One important skill for developing positive emotional health is being able to manage stress and cope with stressful situations.

7. Stressors
Humans experience change from the moment of birth until the moment of death. We are constantly adjusting to events, changes, and situations in life.
A stressor is anything that causes stress. Some stressors are external and some are internal.
External stressors come from the outside world. School assignments, pressure from friends to do something you don’t want to do, emergencies or difficult events are all external stressors.
Internal stressors come from inside yourself. Wanting to do well at something, worrying about what other people think, or having doubts about yourself are all internal stressors.

8. Usefulness of Stress
Sometimes stress can be useful. It can motivate you to get things done, learn new skills, adapt to situations, or help you improve.
But it can also cause worry, upset, fear, or even make you sick. Stress can come from major events or changes in your life. It can also come from daily hassles that build up over time.

9. What are some of your stresses?
What are some MAJOR STRESSORS or LIFE CHANGES people your age might experience at home?
In school?
With friends?
What are some DAILY STRESSORS people your age might experience at home?
In school?
With friends?

10. EXAMPLES MAJOR STRESSORS Death of family/friend
Serious illness of family/friend
Moving
Divorce
End of a friendship
Failing a class
Graduating
Getting a job
DAILY STRESSORS
Arguing with parents
Misunderstandings w/ friends
Being late
Not being prepared for class
Getting homework done
Pressure to perform well
Chores or other expected tasks
Having too much to do

11. Summarize Both major changes and daily hassles can cause stress.
Stressors at home might include not getting along w/ family members, chores, changes in the family, moving, or death.
Stressors at school might include grades, wanting to get into college, wanting to do well, having to meet new people, homework deadlines, or your computer crashing when you have a big project to do.
Stressors with friends might include peer pressure, wanting to fit in, bullying, changing friendships, romantic relationships, and gossip/rumors.

12. Positive vs Negative
Many of the stressors you identified are negative events or situations. However, positive situations or events can also be stressful. (e.g. preparing for a vacation or trying out for sports/theater in school are positive events that can cause stress. )
Any situation with an uncertain outcome can be potentially stressful, even if it leads to something positive.
What are some other positive situations or events that can be stressors?
Talking to someone new to start a friendship, asking someone out on a date, trying out for a team/club, completing a project for extra credit, the birth of a new family member, or trying something that you haven’t done before are all positive things that can be stressful.

13. STRESSORS IN MY LIFE
You’re going to have a chance to assess how much stress you have in your life. Take a moment to reflect on the past year of your life and all of the changes you may have experienced at home, school, or with friends/peers.
You will work on PART 1 of your STRESSORS in MY LIFE worksheet. Make a list of the changes you’ve experienced in each of these areas, even those that might have been positive or that you didn’t think of as stressful at the time.
Try to list at least 1 change in each area, and put a (+) sign if the changes were positive, and a (-) sign if the changes were negative. Then rate the level of stress each change caused on a scale of 1-5, where 1 = not much stress at all, and 5 = extremely stressful.

14. STRESSORS IN MY LIFE
Now think about some of the stressors you experience in everyday life related to home, school, or friends/peers. Think about the past week or two.
On PART 2 of your STRESSORS in MY LIFE worksheet, make a list of these daily stressors, and again, rate the level of stress each one causes you on a scale of Try to list at least 1 stressor in each area.
How many of you were surprised by the number of changes you experienced in the past year?
How many of you were surprised by the number of everyday things that caused you stress?

15. CHANGE
Change is a part of life. Sometimes changes happen slowly or so quietly that you may not notice them at the time. Other changes can be sudden or dramatic. Major negative events or changes are the ones people usually think of as stressors, but all kinds of changes - even positive ones - can cause a degree of stress.
In the same way, everyday stressors or daily hassles may seem small when taken individually, but when they occur throughout your day or continue to happen over time, they can also leads to significant amounts of stress. Understanding how your mind and body respond to all kinds of stress is another key to managing it.

16. RESPONSES TO STRESS
Read the packet about our brain and body’s responses to different stressors. Annotate and highlight/underline key facts, and what you believe may be important.
After you are done reading, answer the questions that are followed by them.
As you can see, ongoing stress can have serious consequences for both your emotional and physical health. (Sounds familiar? Interrelation.) This is why knowing how to manage stress is an important skill, We will be going to be talking more about how you can do that in the next lesson.

17. Homework
Complete PART 3 of the
STRESSORS in MY LIFE
worksheet.