>> Welcome, everyone, and this is my second presentation,
and the first presentation I developed a lot of slides that were really cute, and they had words
that were very insightful, but the students couldn't see it.
So how stressful is that?
So, I'm not using the slides this time.
So this is going to be a different presentation.
So welcome and thank you for coming.
So how many of you have stress, some kind of stress in your life?
There are people without stress?
Everyone deals with stress, even I, the counselor.
Do you believe that a person that is educated and that is hired to help people deal
with everyday life experiences stress, too?
Can you believe that I have stress?
This is stressful, me speaking to a group.
This is stressful.
But everybody has stress, and there is good stress, and there is bad stress.
So I'm going to try to help to identify the different types of stress
and how to overcome those stressors, okay?
So I want this to be participatory, unlike the last.
Okay, some good stress.
Can someone identify some good stress for you?
Good stress.
Were you excited when you were accepted into your program here
at college, at the college, at DCTC?
Was that stressful for you to wait to see if you're going to be accepted here?
Huh? How did you feel?
[ Inaudible Speech ]
Okay, this is not going to be a participatory group, I can see.
That's stressful.
This is like having a party and nobody comes, or when you have a party, and nobody has fun.
Okay, so that's stressful.
But anyway, some of the good stresses are when you are just elated with a situation.
You are engaged, or you're accepted into the college, or you got a huge scholarship.
It's a wonderful experience.
You strive for it.
You were accepted.
You made it, and that was just a good feeling.
Right? When you get a lot of extra money
that you didn't anticipate, isn't that a good stressor?
That's a good stressor.
Okay? So another good stressor is, you know,
you've taken an exam, and you've done really well.
You really didn't anticipate that you were going to do so well, but you put in the time.
You studied.
You studied hard, and the results show that you did well.
That's a good stressor.
You were stressed about thinking about the exam, and you overcame it by doing well.
Those are good things, right?
So how did you overcome those?
Did you have a good study mate?
Anybody are in study groups?
No? You just study alone?
Okay, do you allot enough time to study?
Do you have good time-management skills?
Or you're just smart?
You're just smart, and you can just do it anyway.
Okay. So those are some of the good stressors.
Okay, but there are some terms that I want to share with you, because this is supposed
to be a new experience for many of you.
So there is a term, a good stressor, that's called chronic you stress,
and that is a long lasting, a recurrent boost to your body
that makes you a little more productive, okay?
So things that are fun.
Things and bring you happiness.
Things that make you successful.
Things that bring you peace.
Things that make you joyful.
Things that make you fulfilled.
Those are samples of chronic you stress.
So there are four quadrants of stress, and chronic you stress is a good stressor.
So it's important for you to get through your studies
or get through a situation, is to have fun with it.
Have some laughter.
Have some peace with that, okay?
So make sure you surround yourself with positive people,
positive environment, those type of things.
Strong relationships.
And your hormones have a lot to do with that.
When you are involved with a happy, fulfilling situation.
It produces hormones like dopamines, nitric oxide.
Hormones that kind of really make you feel good, and it makes you a little more productive.
Okay? There is another good type of stressor that's called acute in stress,
and that's a rapid onset, good stress situation, and that can be exhibited
in how well you're doing in your class.
This morning, we had a panel of students that graduated or they're current students,
and they shared with the group how they are successful, and some of the things
that they talked about was time management, finding resources, things like that.
So if you can center yourself around people, things,
or resources that can make you successful, that makes you feel good,
that is an example of acute it stress, okay?
Then the other.
We have too bad stressors, and the first is in acute distress.
That is a short-term distress signal that comes to your body.
It's something that comes on very quickly, and it's unexpected, okay?
So a good situation could be if you're in a car accident, and maybe you're able to escape
from your car before it starts to blow up or something.
It's amazing how people are able to survive a situation like that,
but if you're in a classroom, and you may think that you don't know your materials
in your class, and you do really well, or if you don't do well,
you can take that example to do better the next time.
Okay? So we can always turn a stressful situation into a positive situation,
and then the last terrible stressor is chronic distress, and that is where you don't want to be
in this particular situation at all.
But if you're in it, make sure you try to get out of it,
because in this particular stress, it really brings you down.
It put you in a depressive state.
It produces a lot of anxieties.
So you want to try to overcome that particular situation.
Now there are people on the panel that said they had tried college, you know, different times.
They didn't find the right major, or maybe they didn't interact with the teachers well,
or maybe they just couldn't manage their family, their work and school at the same time.
So they changed that situation.
What I'm trying to say is, whether you're experiencing a good stressor bad stress,
learn what those stressors are, how they became a stress into your life, and try to overcome it.
So there are a variety of ways.
Positive relationships, time management, studying, coming to class getting
into something that's appropriate for you,
realizing if something is not good, try to do away with it.
I'm not saying kill somebody, but if you're in a classroom,
find the students that come regularly.
Find out who is doing well in their classes.
Maybe they have the willingness to help you.
You have control over your stressors, and you can overcome it.
Some of the things that you can do, eat well, exercise, take time, say no, learn to balance,
learn to take notes, ask for help, engage in something that brings you joy.
So I have a handout for people that has 50 ways that you can take a break.
I don't know.
I don't see any familiar faces in here, people who have come to me to ask for help,
things you can do to overcome your situation, whether it's personal,
financial, transportation, whatever.
I usually ask a person what do you do to relieve your stress?
And a lot of students don't even know what that could be.
That can be just taking the time to enjoy your life.
Exercise of that brings you pleasure.
Go on a walk if that at that brings you pleasure.
Read a book at that brings you pleasure.
Listen to music if that brings you pleasure,
but realize you're not the only one that is dealing with stress.
Everyone has it, even people that you think have it all going on.
Okay? Any questions?
If you remember Pat's introduction, my name is Jennifer Robinson-West,
and I am located in the Center for Student Success, which is on the second level.
It's in room 2141, and I look forward to working with you.
Any questions?
Nope. No questions.
>> Give Jennifer a round of applause.
Thanks Jennifer.
[ Applause ]