Day 1: Creating your Resiliency Roadmap

Welcome to day 1 of our three-week-long personalized resiliency roadmap building!  Take a look at my last post to get the introduction!  I look forward to your reactions and comments along the way.

For today, my goal is to have you reflect on, recognize, and document your personal signs of stress.

Signs of stress

There are many, many symptoms of stress and we each experience our own individual combination of symptoms that are a reflection of being under stress. Physical, emotional, cognitive (thinking), and behavioral changes can all be signs of stress. Some of us may be very good at recognizing these signs and symptoms and acting on them to manage stress. Some of us may take longer to recognize changes in these areas as symptoms of stress. So, for today, I'd like you to reflect on the list and category of symptoms below and identify which you experience when you are under stress. I encourage you to discuss and share these reflections with family and loved ones. It will not only help YOU recognize stress in yourself, but it may help others recognize when you are under pressure and reach out a helping hand. You may not experience symptoms from all of these categories (or maybe you do). Personally, I tend to experience muscle tension (especially in my neck and jaw), irritability, snap at others, and overwork when I'm feeling stressed. I rarely experience cognitive symptoms. How about you, what do you experience in your body, emotions, thoughts, and actions when you are under stress?

Try printing the form below and recording your responses. Would family members add other signs?  Recognizing that you are feeling stress is the first step in launching your resiliency road map! We'll continue on with recognizing stress on Friday, and then begin some stress management tools the after that. See you soon!