STRESS RECORD

Creating a record of your stress experiences will give you valuable information. Memory, especially of thoughts and events that accompany intense emotion, is often inaccurate. A record that you complete regularly is the best way to get accurate information about the frequency and intensity of your stress response.

Stress Log Date and time

Intensity of stress (on a scale of 1–5)

First awareness of stress response

Prompting event

Thoughts

Body response

Urge to act

Here are some specifics on filling out your log:

• Date and time. Once a day, write down when, over the course of the day you’ve felt stressed or anxious. Write down the date and time. Simply beginning to log the times when you have stress will give you important information.

• Intensity of stress. Rate the level of stress you experience. Is it as bad as it ever gets—a 5—or are you anxious and jittery, stuck in negative thoughts but still functioning—a 3—or is it a mild nervousness that’s distracting but manageable—a 1?

• First awareness of stress response. It’s important to become aware of when in your stress story you notice that you are stressed. Write down when you first notice stressful thoughts, such as when your voice cracks during a big meeting. Also write about stress-related urges or behaviors such as feeling like cursing your boss or crying in the bathroom of a restaurant.

• Prompting event. Where did the stress and anxiety start? What set it off? If you’re not sure, take a wild guess. What happened right before you became stressed? Over time, you’ll begin to get a better idea.

• Thoughts. Tune in to your thoughts. What’s running through your mind? If your mind is a radio station, what song is it playing?

• Body response. Write down in what part of your body you noticed the stress response and what the response was. Do you feel tense in your shoulders, are you clenching your jaw, or do you feel dread in the pit of your stomach?

• Action urge. What do you feel like doing—fleeing, hiding, hurting someone, hurting yourself, calling your mom? Write it down.

You will be able to use this information in exercises later in this chapter and

throughout the book. Doing so will help you learn how to reduce both the frequency and intensity of the stress you feel. With this record, you will put together the thoughts, behaviors, and actions associated with stress. Patterns will emerge. What triggers stress and how you respond to stress will become more predictable rather than incomprehensible.