Amber Lauer

Unit 4 Assignment

Purdue Global university

HW410 Stress-Critical Issues in Management

and Prevention

Professor Dr. Aguilar

 1. Describe self-esteem and explain what role it plays in promoting and resolving stress.

Self-esteem is the way you feel about yourself. This feeling can influence your moods,

behavior, control your happiness, and all around affect your mentality. It can alter your ability to

handle situations and how you react to those situations by making your life more or less stressful.

A good example, if you have faith in yourself and your ability to handle situations, you will be

more likely to see a difficult situation as a minor set-back instead of a threat but if you don’t trust

in your ability to handle situations, you are likely to see new situations stressful and/ or

threatening. "Self-efficacy, is the feeling that you are capable and resourceful, and this can

contribute both to self-esteem and stress management.” (Scott, 2019) There are many things you

can do to raise your self-esteem, lower your stress level, and become self-sufficient. By finding

the right stress reliver, you will build resilience and feel more in control of your life. In return

you will enjoy life more.

2. Explain how relationships, values, and meaningful purpose in life are affected by stress.

Our relationships, values, and feeling of purpose are all effected in very similar ways. In

society today, we are not aware of our own stress and that's when we vent our stress onto people

in hopes of self-gratification.

It is crucial to have meaningful relationships for our overall well-being. Previous researchers

discovered that individuals with satisfying, supportive, and worthwhile relationships have lower

rates of morbidity and mortality and better mental health. Since stress can take over our personal

lives in several different ways, it can affect our relationships as well. As individuals, when we

are stressed, we tend to become more withdrawn and distracted, and less affectionate. Which

then we leave less time for fun activities, which leads to separation or isolation between partners.
 Since your values influence your goals, wants, and needs, so when these goals are not meant

or the wants and needs haven’t been fulfilled, you tend to feel stressed. Once we become

stressed, “our values may change. The state of arousal changes our brain chemistry and leads us

to act in unusual or unnormal ways. When we are affected by the fight-or-flight response, we

subconsciously become combative, where values that normally would stop us from hurting

others are pushed aside by our frustration and disappointment.”

(Http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/stress_values.htm, n.d)

Individuals who reported having a higher level of happiness, physical health and all around

life satisfaction are individuals who are actively seeking a sense of purpose. Being true to

oneself, and those around you, can increase and strengthen your quality of life, both mentally and

physically. People who consider themselves spiritual not only cope better with stress but

experience better health. You begin to feel like your part of a greater whole and realize that you

aren't responsible for everything that happens in life. “Clarification of what's important helps you

focus less on the unimportant things to eliminate that stress. Personal concept of spirituality

changes as you age with life experiences, but it forms the basis of your well-being and helps you

cope with stressors and affirms your purpose in life.” (Spirituality for stress relief?, 2019)

3. Explain your perspective on the differences between values, attitudes, and beliefs.

Values are your personal, guiding principles. The concepts in which you live by. For

example, honesty, happiness, wisdom, etc.

Attitudes are how you internalize and then express your feelings. It can be both verbally and

physically. It is formed from your beliefs and your values.

Beliefs are your morals. An opinion of faith and trust. What you believe to be true based on

what you were taught, the lessons you learned, and the takeaways from the experiences.
 4. Take one lifestyle activity [e.g., exercise, smoking] through Prochaska’s Stages of

Change Model.

“Precontemplation – not thinking about changing.

Contemplation – beginning to think change may be a good thing.

Preparation – making small changes.

Action – undertaking the new behavior.

Maintenance – the new behavior becomes habitual.

Relapse – fall back to old patterns (if there is a relapse)” (Faller, n.d.)

I will walk you through the stages of how I quit smoking. First, the idea of quitting

smoking wasn’t even a second thought. I was going through some stressful events in my life and

it was my only outlet to get away long enough to have time to myself. And during those times,

the urges of smoking were being encouraged by an already developed bad habit. Not a healthy

excuse but it was mine. I knew eventually I would stop if I wanted to save money and be healthy,

but I just wasn’t ready to take that step. I was in the precontemplation phase. Then I found out I

was pregnant. Since I was very early in the pregnancy my doctor said it was best to start weaning

myself off now so that the habit was gone by the time it was crucial for the baby’s development.

Once the initial shock of being pregnant, since I originally went to the doctors because I had an
ear infection and symptoms of the flu, I knew things were about to change. They had to change.

That became my contemplation stage. I started off trying to make a plan. Telling myself that

once I finished this pack, I was done. I cut when and how many smoke breaks I was going to

have to satisfy the cravings but not over do it for my unborn child. This was my preparation

stage. Next was my action stage. This is when I set those goals into motion. I stopped taking my

15 min breaks (before and after lunch breaks) to go have a cigarette and started reading in the

lunchroom and leaving lunch for my only smoke of the workday. As I got bigger and the

pregnancy became more real, the habit of wanting to be healthier became an easier motivation to

stop smoking. This was my maintenance stage. Now there is a sixth stage which unfortunately I

did go through twice before the habit was completely broken and that is the relapse stage. I was

doing really good and I thought the habit was gone. I was so proud of myself. Then my now ex-

husband and I went through a dramatic experience. I went to a friend’s house to vent and

unfortunately, she was a smoker. I said yes when she offered and that’s all she wrote till the next

time I decided to quit. The end. Thank you.

Reference:

Elizabeth Scott, M. (2019, August 18). Raise Self Esteem, Lower Stress Levels. Retrieved
January 05, 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/why-an-how-to-raise-your-self-
esteem-for-stress-relief-3144820

Society for Personality and Social Psychology. (2014, August 29). Meaningful relationships can
help you thrive. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 10, 2021 from
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140829084247.htm

Http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/stress_values.htm. (n.d.). Retrieved January 2021,

from http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/stress_values.htm

Eva Amy L. Eva Amy L. Eva, A. L., & Eva, A. (2017, December 10). Could Stress Help You
Find Your Purpose in Life? Retrieved January 2021, from
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/could_stress_help_you_find_your_purpose_in_life

Spirituality for stress relief? (2019, March 15). Retrieved January 2021, from
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-
20044464

Kumar, M. (n.d.). Change-occurs-in-stages. Retrieved July 23, 2018, from

https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/professional-education/ce-courses/ce375/change-
occurs-in-stages

Kumar, M. (2010, December 20). The Relationship Between Beliefs, Values, Attitudes and
Behaviors - Owlcation - Education. Retrieved January 2021, from
https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/Teaching-and-Assessing-Attitudes

Faller, BS, R. V. (n.d.). Change-occurs-in-stages. Retrieved January 2021, from

https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/professional-education/ce-courses/ce375/change-
occurs-in-stages