Overall I consider myself a laidback, low-stress person, but there are certainly some areas in my life that I get stressed about. As the most introverted person in an introverted family, new and unfamiliar social situations are probably the biggest source of stress in my life. These events can be stressful because I tend to overthink how I should behave and what I should say, etc., since interacting smoothly with people I don’t know well isn’t my natural forte. I can handle this stress by making sure I’m prepared whenever I enter a new social situation, reminding myself it’s not as high-stakes as I think it is, and practicing being confident and respectful when interacting with others.  And while my experience with school has largely been a positive one, I can occasionally stress myself out if I don’t understand how to approach a project or don’t have a good idea for an assignment. This stress is due to my high expectations for myself at school, which sometimes morph into perfectionism. I can handle this stress by providing myself with ample time to finish projects and focusing on just completing each step of the process to the best of my ability. 

My loved ones are not to blame for the cause of my stress but it is more so the fear of disappointment within me. I’m scared to disappoint my friends and especially my family. I feel as though I put high expectations on myself and then somehow convince myself that said expectations are what my loved ones expect of me. My loved ones always show and say how proud they are of me for even performing the simplest tasks in hopes to motivate me and I couldn’t appreciate them more for that. They are the main factors that help me handle stress in all aspects of my life. Unfortunately, I tend to be a very stressful person, meaning I chose to stress about the most arbitrary things even if they may not even matter. I'm currently trying to figure out ways in which I can stop overthinking which hopefully will help with my stress.

The things I choose to stress about aren’t impactful or of much significance to my overall well-being or even my future. I choose to worry about things that I really shouldn’t, but once I’m consumed with only fear and doubt it’s hard to come back to reality and reassess my fears. The stresses in my life are created only by myself, and sometimes it’s hard to understand that.

Because the stress in my life often consumes my thoughts when I’m alone, or doing something alone, I try to distract myself most of the time. However, my distractions turn into procrastination and further my stress overload. Distractions are useful, though only for a limited time before you spend too much alone. 

I’ve recently realized that spending time with other people or even seeing other people when I’m outside, helps me stay grounded and judge my situation a lot better. Spending time socializing really helped me improve the way I handled stress and judging my worrying from a different perspective.