Writing Assignment Week Five

Outline
 Introduction
 TED talk analysis
 Personal experience of stress
 Self-analysis
 Personal prejudice
 Conclusion

Introduction
This essay aims to showcase my own opinion of the TED talk “How to Make Stress your
Friend”. Furthermore, personal experiences with stress, an analysis of the “self” and my
experience with prejudice are to be included.

TED Talk Analysis

In her TED talk titled ‘How to Make Stress your Friend’ Kelly McGonigal1 expertly
demonstrates how our perception of stress influences our health and wellbeing. She did this by
showcasing how people who view stress as a useful factor, that helps us “rise up to the
challenge”, as opposed to those who view it as this unhealthy part of us, suffer little to no stress
related illnesses. Personally, I’ve heard of the benefits of useful stress or “eustress” but have
never thought that our own psychological perception of stress would influence our bodies. In
addition, the fact that oxytocin plays a part in the stress response, while helping us seek
emotional support from others, is one of the most fascinating things I’ve heard. The idea that our
own body has a stress counteragent imbedded within us, creates an even more complex picture of
our brain and bodies, which raises the question “Why are human beings so contradictory?”.

Personal Experience Of Stress

All of us, at one point or another, have experienced stress. For example, as I’m writing
this, I feel stressed, as I’ve foolishly avoided writing this essay until the last minute and I have 2
hours to finish it. Thankfully, humans have adapted to using coping strategies in order to
minimize or utilize stress. For instance, meditating, seeking support, listening to music or
envisioning stress as a helpful benefactor, as showcased in the upper paragraph, are some of the
more healthier ways people cope.
However, personally I sometimes employ more unhealthy ways to deal with stress. One
unfortunate way is smoking or attempting to shut off, focusing only on the task at hand and not
thinking about the issues. Obviously, these kinds of coping mechanism are unhealthy long term,
which demonstrates how there are better ways of dealing with stress, such as the above-
mentioned ways. One mechanism that I think applies for all situations is exercise, as it tackles
the biological part of stress, utilizing our energy to better both our physical and mental health. In
1
https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=nl
contrast, techniques, such as meditation might help some, while fail others, as meditating
requires both belief that it will work and the time to do so.

Self-Analysis
Who am I? It’s a question that we likely have asked ourselves at least one time in our
lives. The idea that there is a “core self”, that is a personality or a idea of us that remains as a
constant through our lives is, in my opinion, a fallacy. I’m of the belief that we are our
environment and that external factors shape us more than internal ones. For example, I would
like to think of myself as generous, but if I didn’t have access to financial resources then I
probably would become stingier with my money. Furthermore, I was of the belief that I was
introverted before starting to study at this university, as I didn’t have many friends back home.
However, after the first few weeks of being here I’ve met and made way more friends than I ever
expected, which changed my perception of myself.
Although, I would say that we change every day, I will admit that perhaps the only
constant we have of ourselves is our memories. Our memories of how we used to act and look
and how much we’ve grown since then are a constant reminder of how we can change yet remain
the same person. We are able to change so many shoes, put on so many different hats and play all
kinds of roles, but I believe we do all of this in the idea of growth. To overcome our
shortcomings and to better ourselves, every step of the way. After all, the ship of Theseus had all
its parts changed, but it still remained Theseus on name alone, that by itself shows how strong
our experiences can be.

Personal prejudice
When I was an 8th year in high school, I had the unfortunate experience of being
mugged. I was walking back home, and I got jumped by a bunch of teenagers with black leather
jackets, pants and bald heads, known as “skinheads”. After that, I became extremely prejudiced
towards anyone fitting that stereotype and felt unsafe when I would see them. I remember feeling
like that for at least half a year. Most likely I stopped caring, because of 2 reasons. First, it was
unlikely that I would be robbed in broad daylight, on the bus or the last few stretches of my
home. Second, about 30% of my school looked exactly like that.
Both reasons, showcase the difference in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, since I
knew that logically (extrinsic motivation) I wouldn’t become a victim of theft again and after a
while (Intrinsic motivation) I habituated to their presence. Although, I have since moved past this
incident, I do still sometimes feel more alert when I see someone like that and a little more
stressed. Perhaps in the future, I will meet someone who will look exactly like that but be one of
the kindest people I’ve ever met and be the final thing to extinct this prejudice.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay has explored four interconnected themes: the thought-provoking TED
talk, my personal experiences with stress and prejudice as well as an analysis of myself.