Stress Management

Stress management consists of a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving everyday functioning

Things To Know 

Take care of your body.

• Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate.
• Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
• Exercise regularly.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Avoid excessive alcohol, tobacco, and substance use.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Effective stress management helps you break the hold stress has on your life, so you can be happier, healthier, and more productive. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun—and the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challenges head on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Preventing and managing long-term stress can lower your risk for other conditions — like heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and depression. You can prevent or reduce stress by: Planning ahead. Deciding which tasks to do first.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
  10 Tips to Manage Stress

  • Exercise.
  • Relax Your Muscles.
  • Deep Breathing.
  • Eat Well.
  • Slow Down.
  • Take a Break.
  • Make Time for Hobbies.
  • Talk About Your Problems.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
    Habits that may help include:

    • Exercise regularly.
    • Get out in the sunlight.
    • Drink less alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime.
    • Set a sleep schedule.
    • Don't look at your electronics 30-60 minutes before bed.
    • Try meditation or other forms of relaxation at bedtime.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      It can help your mind and body adapt (resilience). Without it, your body might always be on high alert. Over time, chronic stress can lead to serious health problems. Don't wait until stress damages your health, relationships or quality of life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        What are the 4 A's of stress management?
      When deciding which option to choose, it's helpful to think of the four A's: avoid, alter, adapt or accept. Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is no “one size fits all” solution to managing it                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           What are the 4 C's of stress?It is scientifically valid and reliable and based on a 4C's framework, which measures key components of mental toughness - Control, Commitment, Challenge and Confidence.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Here recently I have been dealing with massive stress, life home and friends have all had some part in it. However at the end of the day I'm the only one who can allow it to run my life, so I'm going to be using these helpful tools to coach myself out of this hole. I figured I couldn't be the only one dealing with stress out the wa-zoo right now, so i came to share what I've learned from our good friend Google and other self-help gurus' may this be of some help to you and may you find balance and order in your life soon.                                Many Blessing, A
      
      Averi        
      

GUN SAFETY ←(*꒪ヮ꒪*)

Time and again, we are heartbroken by the news of another mass shooting. Part of our healing must be the conviction that we will do everything in our power to keep these tragedies from happening in a nation that continues to face a pandemic of gun violence. It's not only the high-profile mass shootings that we must work to prevent, but also the daily death-by-guns that claims more than 30,000 lives every year. We know that these deaths are a predictable outcome of our country’s lack of political will to make a change and an underinvestment in prevention approaches that work. Through a public health approach that focuses on drawing from evidence and addressing the factors that increase or decrease the risk of gun violence, particularly in communities that are disproportionately impacted  WE CAN SAVE LIVES!!!!!!!

Gun safety: Reduce the imminent risk of lethality through sensible gun laws and a culture of safety.

1. Sensible gun laws: Reduce easy access to dangerous weapons.

2. Establish a culture of gun safety.

• Reduce firearm access to youth and individuals who are at risk of harming themselves or others.
   
• Hold the gun industry accountable and ensure there is adequate oversight over the marketing and sales of guns and ammunition.
   
• Engage responsible gun dealers and owners in solutions.
   
• Insist on mandatory training and licensing for owners.
   
• Require safe and secure gun storage.

Mass shootings are happening almost weekly, instilling fear, hopelessness, and hypervigilance in individuals and communities. Learn how the trauma impacts individual survivors, professionals who care for the victims, and areas left to suffer the impact. Some are taking action to unite and heal in their grief.

When describing a social problem, people often focus on numbers: How many people in a city are experiencing homelessness? What is the crime rate in a neighborhood? What percentage of a population experiences poverty?

But numbers only tell part of the story. Social problems are complex, and an understanding of them cannot be gained through quantitative data alone. Such is the case with gun violence. Every time there is a shooting—particularly a mass shooting—the first piece of information often shared is the number of people killed or wounded. But the trauma caused by gun violence ripples out far beyond the victims and the more social workers know about these effects, the better they can respond to this trauma, particularly in communities where gun violence is an everyday occurrence.

“Gun violence is way more than a body count,” says Sara Moore Kerai, MA, LPC, a counselor in private practice in Washington, DC. “It creates a sense of hopelessness. People believe that no one cares about what’s happening.”

Wide-Ranging Effects
Trauma caused by gun violence is so destructive because it affects not only the victims but also their friends, family members, neighborhoods, and communities. “Gun violence is a systemic trauma in that it permeates and impacts the social and interpersonal systems of those shot,” says Charles Figley, PhD, a professor of social work and director of the Traumatology Institute at Tulane University in New Orleans.

The mental health effects of gun violence can include anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Consider the following:

• Gun violence survivors interviewed by Francis (2018) reported increased fear and vigilance; some were so fearful that they did not want to leave their homes.

• Within a group of urban adolescent girls assessed at an adolescent medicine clinic, two-thirds of those exposed to violence—including gun violence—met PTSD symptom criteria (Horowitz, Weine, & Jekel, 1995).

• Sullivan and Weiss (2017) found that women who were survivors of intimate partner violence were more likely to have more severe symptoms of PTSD if they had been threatened with a firearm by their intimate partners or feared that their intimate partners would use a firearm against them.

• Nearly one-third of parents in the Washington, DC, area surveyed after the 2002 “Beltway Sniper” attacks said that their children experienced at least one psychological distress symptom related to the shootings (Self-Brown, Massetti, Chen, & Schulden, 2011).

Fear leads many survivors of gun violence to avoid situations where they might be reminded of the violence, says Julieta Macias, LCSW-C, PhD, who has worked with such clients at her private practice in Rockville, MD. These clients can experience agitation and sleep disturbances, react in fear toward anyone who resembles perpetrators, and worry that perpetrators are going to seek revenge. To cope, these clients might avoid spending time in the area where the violence occurred or even move from the area and limit social activities. “It’s about constricting their experience of the world in order to manage their fears and anxieties,” Macias says.

While secondary trauma is often associated with those closest to gun violence surviors, it affects others—from first responders assisting the scene of gun violence to health care workers who see the horrific damage gun violence causes, says Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW, executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. “There are a lot of people walking around with undiagnosed and unacknowledged PTSD,” Lassiter says.

Trauma’s impact can be magnified if a person is repeatedly exposed to gun violence. “Most often, gun violence survivors are similar to war veterans who must adapt to being exposed to danger and skilled at staying safe,” Figley says. Examples of such adaptive behaviors include learning how to interpret noises, faces, and body language for possible threats. In these ways, gun violence survivors learn to accommodate the violence in their lives, but that comes at the cost of their psychosocial, medical, and mental health, Figley says.

In communities where gun violence is common, residents can experience hopelessness and a sense that the violence is just part of everyday life. Francis (2018) describes how one gun violence survivor recalled an incident where she had seen a boy get shot in the face and reported that the boy later died: “There was no outward emotion exhibited and she simply stated it as a fact of daily life. It seemed to be expected. She believed the violence is always present and people learn to adapt.” Exacerbating the problem is that people living in such communities often also face barriers such as poverty, lack of education, and minimal job prospects that limit their options for the future, Francis says.

In addition, mental health problems can affect a gun violence survivor’s physical healing. A study of adults hospitalized for firearm-related injury found that those with preexisting depression had an increased risk of discharge to a care facility or in-hospital mortality (Kalesan & Galea, 2015).

Although trauma related to gun violence is usually associated with the victims and their social networks, there also is trauma related to perpetrators, says Natalie Kroovand Hipple, PhD, an associate professor of criminal justice at Indiana University. With incarceration comes trauma for perpetrators’ family members—for example, women who are left to care for children on their own and children who can only see a parent by visiting a prison. And when perpetrators are released back into the community, they return having experienced the trauma of incarceration.

Perhaps the most disturbing traumatic effect of gun violence is that it can lead to more violence. Feeling unsafe, expecting to be victimized, and doubting that police will protect them, people in high-violence communities may choose to carry firearms for protection, says Jesenia Pizarro, PhD, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University. “Firearms are a prime facilitator of violence, and [a firearm] is a tool that increases the odds of violence,” Pizarro says. “It becomes a never-ending cycle. Violence begets more violence.”

There are myriad factors that can affect an individual’s risk of being exposed to gun violence and how the individual reacts to that violence, Figley says. Risk factors include exposure to violence and living in high-crime areas, while protective factors including having the ability to self-regulate, having a social support system, and taking care of physical health (e.g., getting enough sleep, eating nutritious foods). “People are more resilient when they are running on all cylinders,” Figley says.

Mass Shootings and Trauma
There is an elephant in the room when talking about trauma and gun violence: The trauma experienced by survivors of mass shootings often attracts far more attention than that experienced by residents of urban communities, even though mass shootings are much rarer. According to the Pew Research Center, victims of mass shootings account for a small fraction of gun-related murders in the United States (Gramlich, 2019). “We give a lot of attention to [mass shootings], but with the everyday shootings that happen in urban areas, there doesn’t seem to be the same outcry and urgency,” Lassiter says.

A combination of factors leads to this discrepancy, Lassiter says. For example, mass shootings are sensationalized in the media. And race plays a role as well; people tend to be moved emotionally by the suffering of mass shooting victims and survivors, but are not as sympathetic to people in communities of color affected by gun violence.

The focus on mass shootings can exacerbate feelings of fear in the general public about events that are still unlikely to affect them. A survey of adults conducted in August 2019 on behalf of the American Psychological Association found that nearly 80% of adults said they experience stress as a result of the possibility of a mass shooting. One-third of adults said fear of a mass shooting prevents them from going to certain places or events, and one-fourth said they had changed how they live their lives because of fear of a mass shooting (American Psychological Association, 2019).

Healing the Wounds

Addressing the trauma caused by gun violence requires a two-pronged approach of helping people who have experienced trauma while also working to reduce gun violence. Lassiter believes social workers are especially well suited to these dual tasks because they understand how different issues related to gun violence intersect at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. “It makes all the sense in the world for social workers to be involved in this work,”. 

There are a variety of tools clinicians can use when working with gun violence survivors, including cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and cognitive processing therapy. It is also important to teach clients to use mindfulness, meditation, and other techniques to calm the physiological responses—such as rapid heart rate and shallow breathing—that might arise when recalling the trauma or being in a place that reminds them of the trauma.

The term “trauma-informed care” has become popular among mental health professionals and health care workers to describe the approach they use in working with people who have experienced trauma. However, social workers need to reflect on whether their practice really reflects tenets of trauma-responsive care such as collaboration and focusing on strengths, says Elizabeth Power, MEd, founder of the Trauma-Informed Academy and an adjunct instructor in psychiatry at Georgetown University. “You can believe all those things, but you might not always be doing all those things,” Power says.

A challenge when trying to address the trauma experienced by people exposed to gun violence is that such violence has often become such a regular part of their lives that they don’t see the need for mental health services or they feel stigmatized by reaching out for support.

Furthermore, giving people the chance to share their stories does not have to be limited to counseling settings, says Mary Francis, RN, MSN, PhD, an assistant professor of nursing at Widener University in Chester, PA. Francis also is a trauma nurse practitioner at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ, where she interviewed 16 gun violence survivors about their experiences and found them eager to talk. “They really wanted their story to be told,” Francis says. “We should not assume that they do not want to tell us. Their input is invaluable.”

In addition to treating trauma, social workers can take steps to help prevent gun violence. They should advocate for more resources to be used toward helping people—particularly children—learn conflict resolution and emotional regulation skills so they have better tools to deal with violence

 Working to improve relationships between communities and police is vital so people in high-violence communities feel that they can trust the police to protect them rather than resorting to carrying firearms.

Finally, social workers can get involved in political action to advocate for gun control and other policies to address poverty, racism, economic injustice, and other factors that contribute to gun violence. Kerai, for example, is a volunteer for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a grassroots organization focused on promoting gun safety and violence prevention.

She suggests social workers advocate for policies proven to reduce gun deaths, such as background checks on all gun sales, red flag laws to temporarily remove guns from people who pose a danger to themselves or others, and safe-storage laws to prevent children from unintentionally shooting themselves or others.

Even though gun violence seems like an unsolvable problem, there is something each person can do to help those traumatized by it, Power says. “It’s not all lost,” Power says. “There are definitely things you can do. You might not save everyone, but you can help some. It’s not an inevitable thing.”

Bridgel Shiel

Background

Christopher Spencer

Bridget grew up in Washington, D.C. and was raised by her grandparents. Her father was not in her life and she rarely saw her mother. She grew up studying ballet and playing soccer.

She was teased when she was younger and she had low self-esteem. Her first year of high school was a success but then Bridget's life went downhill. Briget's grandmother explains that Bridget began hanging out with the wrong people in D.C. so she was happy when she decided to move to Atlanta with her mother. Bridget became a model when she got to Atlanta. She featured in Ghanaian hip-life artiste, Criss Waddle’s Biegya Song. Shortly before her murder she told a friend she was pregnant, but her autopsy showed that she was not.

Bridget was in an abusive relationship. On February 13 she had called the police for being hit in the mouth by her then ex-partner. „I don't want you guys to go to the house because he said if I call the police he'll kill me,“ Bridget says on the 911 recording. He was older, spent some time in and out of jail. And there were claims from friends and the community, from others, that he was perhaps part of an underground organization, a gang. Her grandmother sent her money a day before her murder, because she needed a place to stay. She wanted to not stay with her ex.

Bridget advertised as an escort on Backpage. Friends recall she was in desperate need of money. On the night of her murder she was seen by a witness at a Shell gas station sitting inside her car. Along with her were two unidentified men, and although the vehicle was later confirmed to be hers, she wasn’t the one behind the wheel. It’s suspected that she was being held against her will at that time. According to that same witness, Bridget didn’t look overly distraught as she sat in the passenger seat, but she did seem “extremely nervous.”

Bridget was shot seven times. She had multiple gunshot wounds to her back, buttocks and legs. The person that killed Bridget used ammo called Radically Invasive Projectile aka R.I.P. bullets. The bullets enter soft targets, closed, and then explode into sharp fingers. She was found naked with dogs circling her dead body in an Atlanta Park. Investigators described her wounds as „overkill“. The person that shot her stood over her body and kept firing.

In June 2018 Christopher Spencer, age 28, who was already in prison serving out a life sentence for one of five killings that he’s been linked to, could be linked to Bridget`s murder, through a Sprite bottle found near her car and matching DNA. On October 24, 2016, Spencer and another man, Vernon Beamon, had abducted, robbed, bound and then shot to death a Stone Mountain couple, police said. The two were arrested and convicted and Spencer’s DNA was now entered into a state-maintained database. In March 2018 Spencer was one of 11 people police charged in connection with the gang-related killings of Tatiyana Coates, age 11, and her brother Daveon, age 15, during a home invasion.

Bridget was a friend, to me and to many. And even as the years progress her spirit still is with us all. She was small, and left a huge shinning glow upon everywhere she went, and I know that's what she's continuing to do in the land of the unforeseen. 

We need to put a stop to gun violence, this isn't about mental health, race, socio economic factors, financial standards or reputation. This is a fight for safety, safety for all. If there is no more gun violence we all win no more lives lost to the trigger, no more lives lost to the social justice system, no more lives lost period. We all stand once again equal and united, Law Enforcements weapons only being batons to be used when necessary, and our people joining hands to rally for peace and not for war. Oh, wouldn't it be a better day if we could all put a stop to this? I've lost too many people to trigger since I was a kid, Now I have no more tears left to shed just words and wasted air that is left on dead ears and weary hearts. I tried. 

A❤.

Open Letter *

 I went to the words because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and rock out all the marrow of my life! to put to rest all that was not life and when I come to die, discover that I had lived.. not with them or through them but on my accord on my own free will. I woke up each and everyday and decided what my life would and wouldn't look like. 

That is why I went back to my words: because my words have always been more powerful than me. sometimes leading me on adventures I hadn't yet to seek, and sometimes giving me the courage to accept the changes to the things drowning me, and as the prophet as said; "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain".

So choose to live, bathe and breathe in that sorrow. Use your words. pick up that paint brush, go to your closet and design your weeks worth of outfits, play those video games - Live life on your terms, but don't live it to satisfy others. This is your now. 

xoxo ,

A ❤

~Morning Ritual For Your Higher Self:

*Upon waking - stand or sit on a chair (preferably in sunlight) - with your feet firmly on the floor.             * Close your eyes and breathe deeply and rhythmically                                                                                          *Now imagine roots, like tree roots, growing down through the soles of your feet and into the earth below                                                                                                                                                                                 *Imagine the roots reaching deep, deep, deep into the earth's glowing core and anchoring you safely to HER.                                                                                                                                                                                   *Feel the energy flowing from you, to the Earth and back again, nourishing you both, as you exchange love and support.                                                                                                                                                             *When you feel complete, open your eyes and continue with your day.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Namaste,                                                                                                                                  Averi ❤ 

                 

 

       ⚸◈☀  Open Letter to Anonymous ☀◆⚸

   The people who do not want to be in our lives go, we have to stand within the voids and the space they left, and we have to rebuild there. 

That is where the heart mends. That is where the scars heal. And that is something you give yourself. No one else is going to do it for you. No one else is capable! 

Please, if you are waiting for closure to move on, I hope you give yourself permission to just let go. I hope you give yourself permission to let something end in the middle of a chapter. I hope you give yourself permission to connect with the fact that no closure is closure. That a half-ending is still an ending. 

That someone not being able to choose you anymore just means that they were not meant to hold your heart. You can add meaning to that, you can dress it up, or dress it down, you can seek to understand why, but that does not change the fact that the ぬUniverseጭ did not fight for your souls to beat the odds, it does not change the fact that this person cannot love you.

And you deserve to be loved the way you love others. You deserve someone who celebrates your heart. You deserve someone who wants to hold you up on the worst of days when you cant find the strength to stand on your own two feet. You deserve someone who will laugh at all your horrible jokes, and someone who will let you talk about makeup for an hour straight. You do. 

You do. 

   You do.  

         You do. 

                   You do. 

 I know I have been missing for quite sometime now, and I do apologize as I have been dealing with a very low point in my life. I have currently reached a level of depression I never knew existed (says the person who was born depressed) my life has literally been wake up, distract myself and go back to bed... my head is a dark cave and my emotions are an avalanche dumping and pouring over constantly. I have lost so much recently and people keep leaving my life at such a rapid speed I feel exhausted, So I wrote I wrote for me for you all for whoever needed some push to know that even if it is hard (right now) it will get better, and if you are experiencing grief and loss or just depression in general there is help. 

Take good care, 

Cheers! 

Averi ❤👤

We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, FREE and CONFIDENTIAL support for people who are in crisis. 

                                 🖁 800-273-8255

                         🗣 suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Introduction to New Blog

  

☙ I suppose you came here to read my story, but this is a story of not just mine alone. This is a story of all the people who live within me, who make up who I am, who are me. The tiny parts of self that split and into who I am today. Yes the answer is you will read a story however, this story is one that is not for the soft of heart this story is going to make you question your beliefs and identity while exploring the path through a mind altering hallway of hell. 

   Reading my story may not be as easy as picking up any old book and flipping through the pages, but I can promise you that this book will move you in a way that no other book can, will or has. This is a true story, my true story and to I've laid my heart right here on these papers for you to see, not to judge or to feel empathy - but for you to know that even through such terrible, terrible things we can triumph through the mud and just like the lotus grow in muddy waters. You have the strength we all do. It's about opening yourself up to universe to  receive that strength; but you have it. Sometimes we just have to go through some horrible things in life before we can open our souls up to the blessings of the universe and begin to receive the gifts that are meant for us. 

   So if you will, Please just take the time to read this story. The healing that awaits through the pages is just beyond your reach and once read; Stored in your knowledge forever. Take the time to learn more about yourself, others, empathy and growing through what you go through. It is never a bad time to start healing 'Self' and stop worrying about everything else.❧ 

Averi Snell ❦  

www.thebeginningofmybeing@blogspot.com

Latest Updates

Hello my wonderful readers and welcome [or] welcome back to AveriWithAWord. There have been some major movements in the works these last couple of weeks leading up to this post. We are officially on Instagram [averiwithaword] and we are now on YouTube [AveriWithAWord] which will be more of a podcast platform on which we will discuss issues just like we do here, except a little bit more in 'real time' 

Also I wanted to add, that I have started another blog, however this blog is fully dedicated to a book I am working on, on my life story this is a trauma story in which some viewers may have a hard time reading/digesting; and the content could very well traumatize and or re-traumatize individuals who have experienced the following: Sexual assault, Sex trafficking, Suicide attempts or ideation, Mental or emotional health issues like PTSD, DID ( dissociative identity disorder) or anxiety and stress disorders. However if you are currently healing, have gone through therapy or are going through therapy or have an interest in psychology this would be a great read for emotional healing, educational purposes, and overall furthering your own knowledge on these matters. 

With that being said my blog can be followed at: www.thebeginningofmybeing.blogspot.com

Also I really hope to meet some of you guys via Instagram and YouTube I know it's been a long time coming, and I am truly excited for this movement forward in AveriWithAWord. 

Until next time, take good care of yourselves and each each other! Lots of love. 

Cheers, 

Averi ❤⚘