The Dual-Faced Nature of Stress: Danger and Survival

Stress is usually looked at like an enemy. It is an emotional state of being put under demanding circumstances. Even though it makes you feel uneasy and frustrated at times, stress is not always a bad thing. Without the ability to feel stress humankind wouldn’t have survived. Our Neanderthal ancestors, for example, used the onset of stress to alert them of a potential danger, such as a pack of wolves. When you feel you may be in danger your body activates “fight or flight,” which releases hormones and chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. The fight mode can happen when we encounter a threatening type of stress and it prepares us to fight off the danger that we are encountering. Flight can help in dangerous situations by giving you a rush

of energy to escape on coming harm. There is also a third type of stress reaction called “freeze.” This can be revealed when we are faced with a stressful situation and find ourselves holding our breath or having shallow breaths.
From week two, after leaning about the baboons and the hierarchy system, I can see how this plays a part in my life as well. Even though I like all the jobs I currently have, I can see how this hierarchy system works. For my Instructional Aide job I am positioned at the bottom, where I take orders from the teacher that I work with and he takes orders from the principal of the school. So I have very little power and say in what goes on at the school. With my photography job since I am the owner and I am my own boss, I have a lot less stress because I get to choose what I do and when I do it. I don’t have any “rules” to follow because it is my own company and I am a lot more relaxed.
I found the Zimbardo prison experiment very interesting. I think one of the things that stood out the most was the fact that even though all of the participants came from the same place more or less, the fact that just because some of them were given the role of an officer none of them ever said that what they were doing was wrong. They all bought into the act of being a guard and treated the prisoners as such. Even though the “guards” knew that the “prisoners” really didn’t do anything to be there. For the Milgram experiments I think it is interesting in how quickly people can lose sympathy just because they are told there will be no consequences to their actions. When the “teachers” are instructed by the men in lab coats to keep going and they will take responsibility for what happens, the majority of the teachers would have killed the learner. The different situations that we encounter from everyday life has a huge impact on how people act, from being in traffic and dealing with angry drivers, to having to talk to a disgruntled customer at a job. The way you react to a situation is what makes you who you are and your actions will have an according consequence.
Setting goals to work toward can be helpful in having a clear objective and giving yourself something to work for.

My three goals are to buy a house, obtain my degree and start a career. By getting my degree I will be able to get a higher paying job in a field that I am passionate about. In a previous class I took a Locus of Control assessment that tells you whether you have an internal Locus of Control, which is when you take control of your responsibilities for your own success or if you have an external Locus of Control, which means you think that external forces, like luck, play a part in the outcome of something. I found that I have a very strong sense of internal control, which I think is going to be beneficial in accomplishing my goal of finishing college. Maintaining strong control of your work can develop into gaining knowledge, skills and abilities. I believe that the amount of effort that you put into something is what you will in turn get out of it or like Newton said “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” For example, if I work hard and complete all of my classes I will be rewarded with my degree. However, if I do not complete my classes with passing grades, then I will not reach my goal of obtaining my degree. I think that my current goals have a domino effect when it comes to accomplishing them. If I get my degree, then I will be able to get a career started and after I start working, then I will be able to save money to buy a house. Overall, my

ultimate goal is to move out and be able to be independent. Even though there are only three goals they each have a big effect on my life and each one carries a large amount of stress.
I currently have a lot that I am doing in my life and I encounter stress from all directions, it seems like. On the stress test I got a 350, which says that I am at a high risk of becoming ill in the near future. I find this to be somewhat factual, in the last few weeks I have been having severe headaches and I actually became very sick over the weekend. I currently work for the school district as an Instructional Aide, I coach varsity soccer, I run my own photography company and I am going to school. With all of these things going on, stress builds up fast and I feel overwhelmed at times. After reading about how stress influences disease, it is understandable how I became sick. In the past I almost never got sick and now looking back I can see that I lived pretty stress free to say the least. I only had one job and that was all I really had to worry about. Now I have almost three jobs, where I play a rather high position and I have a lot of people who look to me for information and guidance. Soccer will be ending soon, so I am hoping that will give me more time to work on my classwork and complete it earlier. Which will then allow me to maybe go to bed a little earlier and hopefully that will improve my overall health. As I start to achieve my personal goals, like getting my degree and buying a house, I should be able to eliminate more stress from my life. At the end of “Stress changes how people make decisions” (2012) it talks about how men are more willing to take risk and are more inclined toward fight-or-flight responses. I can see how this is accurate with myself, when I feel very stressed out I tend to do more extreme things like mountain biking and soccer to take my mind off of things.
As I stated in my other milestone essay, my three goals are to buy a house, obtain my degree and start a career. Which to me are all realistic and achievable. With these goals as I complete each one, the next one will be that much closer to being accomplished. I said before that I look at these goals like a domino effect. When I get my degree I can start looking for a job and once I get a job I can then purchase a house. For each of these goals there are some sub-goals that I need to achieve as well. For instance, in order to get my degree in CIS, I need to pass all of my classes. I have a sub-goal to pass all of my classes with a B or better, which I have accomplished so far.
For my first goal, obtaining a degree in CIS will be the start in completing my set of goals. The date for completion is August 31, 2018. By setting some sub-goals it will make obtaining this goal that much easier. I said before that one sub-goal is to pass each class with a B or better, which would of course give me the credits I require to graduate. By completing all my assignments the best that I can will also help with reaching my goal. This first goal is important to me because without it I will be unable to even start working toward my other two goals. I think that this goal is very specific; I will either get my degree or I won’t.
Optimistically speaking, when I get my degree I will then be able to start on my second goal, starting a career. I think that this goal will be a little more difficult because of the unknown. Unlike getting my degree, where I feel that for the most part I am in control of my grades and the work that I turn in, finding a job has many different factors. From finding an open position, to applying for the position, and finally the interview, I feel that some of that process is out of my control. I can only set myself up for success by having my degree and showing that I have the necessary skills for the job. I would start to apply for jobs right after I complete school. I am going to try to keep this as a short-term goal. I plan on getting a job within a few months of finishing school. I think that this goal is very achievable; it just might take sometime to complete it. I am going to benefit from this goal immensely; this goal will give me the money that I need to live the life that I want.
Lastly, buying a house is the ultimate goal for me.

It will allow me to be independent and to feel like I am an adult. I think that I will be able to accomplish this goal about a year after I start working. I should be able to save enough money for a down payment on a house. I think that this goal could also take some time to complete depending on my salary and other expenses I may encounter, like if my car breaks down. I think that setting a budget will help to stay organized and can help reduce stress. As I achieve each goal it will be a big stress reliever. It will also allow me to focus on one goal at a time. Right now the most stressful goal is completing all of my classes and getting my degree. It is a lot of work in its self and then to add work on top can build up fast. I think that if I stay focused and not let too much work build up I can keep my stress at ease and continue working to accomplishing my

goals.