Stress Reflection Lab

The most stressful time in my life came into being during the second semester of my sophomore year of college. Within in one month's time I found out that a friend of mine had been diagnosed with cancer, my roommate had a mental breakdown and had to withdrawal from school, my parents entered into marriage counseling and my 11 year old dog passed away. In addition to this, I was having to go back home on the weekends to have tests done on my heart after I had several cardiac episodes that left me feeling tired and sore. I was trying to keep up with school work, my job, and a relationship with my boyfriend of 6 months at the time, but felt like most of my attempts were not good enough to meet any person's standards, especially mine.

During this time I felt like all of the stability in my life had been pulled out from beneath me, and I began to lose my desire to be around other people. I was afraid of crying in front of the people who look up to me as being the positive and outgoing leader that I am expected to be all of the time. So to avoid disappointing people I just pulled away from the people who I thought would be disappointed in my sad attitude and lack of desire to serve other people. I began to see that I couldn't function like this for very long, so I began to open up and talk with my boyfriend about the hard times I was going through, and I felt like sharing my struggles allowed for our relationship to grow in trust and respect for each other. At this time I also realized that I was selling my friends short when I believed that they wouldn't understand why I couldn't be the outgoing person that I am normally.

If I could back I would have opened up to my closet friends at school, because I know that they would have given me support and understanding during this time. I also would have gone in and spoken with my pastor, because I really could have used some spiritual guidance while I was trying to get stability back in my routine. I also would have tried harder to look at the positive things going on in my life. I have been blessed beyond my understanding, and I should have spent more time in prayers of thanksgiving of what I have, instead of simply impatiently waiting for God to "fix" what I felt was wrong.

Through this hard period in my life, I learned to allow people see me for who I am, whether that be happy, sad, lonely, or overjoyed. I love my friends and I would want them to share parts of their life with me if they were in need of prayer or support, so I know that they would do the same for me. I have also reflected back and realized that I would have felt better if I hadn't dwelt on how many bad things were happening at one time for me. I learned to deal with one issue at a time, and to remember that time does heal a lot of wounds. These experiences have helped me open my eyes to see others who are in need of encouragement and support, and has helped see the importance of reflecting on life's blessings when going through painful experiences.

Stress Lab Reflection-try this out

I'm trying this out, because I'm not sure if I know what I'm doing.
Wish me luck! <3