Writing Assignment #2
Erika L. D.
Psy 101 – Online
Professor Rachel C.
2-27-12

Writing Assignment #2
“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” (Carlos Casteneda) This is one of my favorite quotes that I use to help me get through the hard times in my life. I thought it would be good to start this paper off with because it fits. The book’s definition of stress is, “The term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging.” (Ciccarelli, White, 2012, pg.410) I don’t know a single person that doesn’t have stress in their lives. It is one of the things that we all have in common. I think that a life without stress would be dull and boring. Stress to me is not always a bad thing; sometimes it gives us the drive to do things that we don’t feel we can achieve. The book also defines a stressor as, “events that cause a stress reaction.” (Ciccarelli, White, 2012, pg. 410) In this paper I will explain some of the stressors in my life and I will also explain how I cope with them. Question 1

This past year has been one of the most stressful years of my life. The hardest thing that I have had to go through this year was on September 3. This is the day that my Father passed away. He had small cell lung cancer that metastasized to the liver and brain before it was diagnosed. The last six weeks of his life I watched my father’s health deteriorate day by day, as I helped my mother take care of him. Watching my father die was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t cry from missing him. He was the best father, husband to my mother, grandfather to my children, and man in my world. Even as I am writing this paper, I can’t help but cry. My father was the backbone of our family, he never let any of us know his weaknesses, even today thinking of him and how proud he was of me, gives me the strength to keep going on. Okay on to the next big stressor of this year. My marriage to a soldier in the United States Army, I loved being an army wife. I loved the lifestyle and the security that being in the army gave us in today’s tryin...

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