Stress and coping behaviors piqued my interest, as it always has, and I
was certainly excited to learn a bit more about myself with these
assessments. My highest scales were proactive (48 of 56) and
reflective coping (38 of 44), which does not surprise me. I find myself
in seemingly unique situations a lot for whatever reason and can
never seem to prepare myself for such events. However, I am a
problem solver when obstacles appear and enjoy wracking my brain
for possible scenarios and their solutions. As I am more on an
introvert, I feel I spend most of my time contemplating and making
sense of things in my head or considering the "what-ifs", therefore my
scores did not surprise me in the slightest. I think it is so important to
be aware of one's coping strategies because everyone handles stress
or obstacles differently, so understanding your own (as well as
others') process of handling stress can be very beneficial for working
through any issue. However, I must say I find it slightly more helpful
to understand our own weaknesses and identify them so we can try
to confront them going forward (this may just be the
proactive/reflective strategic side of me speaking though). The fact I
tend to neglect future planning for "unplanned" stressors shows me
that I need to put some time aside for self-care now to focus on
securing myself in the future. Knowing I can handle a stressful
situation in the moment is wonderful, and knowing that I can reflect
on it and think about it at another time is great, but not working at
breaking the cycle and trying to better plan ahead would help me
significantly. In addition, being conscious about one's strategies as
discussed is related to emotional regulation, specifically because with
this knowledge, we can work on making mor attempts at positive and
intentional coping mechanisms that may better our mental and
physical health.
a As previously mentioned, having conscious knowledge of our own
coping behaviors allows us to take better care of ourselves mentally
and physically by equipping us with tools to safely, appropriately, and
positively process our stress. Prolonged periods of stress have been
scientifically proven to weaken our immune systems and decrease
our brain functionality in addition to the less predictable
consequences such as depression, anxiety, social withdrawal or
avoidance, and in some cases may lead to unhealthy coping strategies
such as substance abuse. Furthermore, coping behaviors can also be
applied to emotional intelligence. Being aware of your own, as well as
others', coping behaviors allows us to identify and rationalize what
our next thoughts, words, or movements should be in a given
situation. Identifying these behaviors allows us to handle a situation
with more experience and insight, increasing our emotional
intelligence. Lastly, I think this concept can be applied to ethics and
how we learn to cope in ways that are positive for yourself as well as
those around you. It is important to at the very least aim to practice
healthy coping behaviors and strategies, however it is very common
for this idea to slip through the cracks in the heat of the moment
when we are unexpectedly confronted with a new stressor. For
example, some people may choose to avoid confrontation while, on
the other extreme, some chose to run into it head on and headstrong
with loud verbal or physical outbursts. Ethically, we must remain
aware of our coping behaviors with the understanding that other
people may cope in a different manner. In my opinion, this concept
must be treated with the same respect for diversity as any other topic
we've discussed so far for this very reason.
