Page 4 - Defuse Your Stress Bomb

that shows quick results you can be proud of. Your feeling of accomplishment can also help defuse your stress.
Many stresses can be better handled just by realizing that they aren’t permanent. You will graduate from high school someday and then you won’t have those classes to worry about. You will make other friends eventually; everybody loses friendships, and although that hurts terribly, the hurt doesn’t last forever. And although it may sound callous, families heal too, or at least learn to live with things the way they are.
Turning it to your advantage
You may find that stress can be turned to your advantage. You couldn’t accomplish as much as you do without it, according to Dr. Selye. Some stress, he says, contributes toward excellence.
“Don’t try to avoid stress – it’s the very salt and spice of life . . . but do learn to master and to use it!”
Imagine yourself as Clayton Kershaw, star pitcher for the Los Angeles, California Dodgers baseball team. There he is on the mound, coolly concentrating, and then he lets fly with his lightning-fast curve ball. Do you think he doesn’t feel stress? Of course he does. He just focuses it into that powerful left arm of his. He uses stress in a positive way.
Whatever happens, you can’t let your life be taken over by stress. It’s just part of living. It comes when you expect a lot of yourself and other people, and it comes when you want to achieve.
Stress comes from successes and disappointments. And it will always be with you, from one source or another. Learn to deal with it now and you will be able to handle it later, too.
What’s Stressful to Teens?
What is stressful to you? In a survey, more than 100 teenagers were asked what situations on the following list cause them the most stress. Let’s take a look at their answers, with No. 1 being the situation picked as stressful by the most young people (most common, not necessarily most severe).
1. Increased arguments with parents
2. Concern about doing right (peer pressure)
3. Too-busy with school schedule
4. Problems with classmates
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