Gratitude- The quality of being thankful.   Stress - A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.  

Most people think stress is bad, but I don't.   Everyone has stress, they might not know it, but stress is all around them. It might be forgetting about a project due in a week, not getting their homework done, or even thinking they can't pursue what they want to do. I think stress is good to a certain extent because it pushes us to do things and if we didn't have stress we would not be able to do a simple thing, like a project.

Stress, comes in many different forms. 

The three types of stress that I think of are:

• Day-day stress. Most people have day to day stress, it's like when you have trouble in class understanding what you're learning. 
• The second type is time management stress. That is like when you have work or school from 8-5pm then you have sports, and on top of that you have lots of homework with a project due soon. 
• And last but not least, depression. Depression is when all types of stress come in and you cannot handle it. Stress beyond day-day stress can become overwhelming and difficult to handle.

  Handling stress seems way harder than it is. I magine, you're late to school every day. Every day you wake up late, aren't organized and maybe, you might not be clean when you go to school. On top of that nobody's talking to you, and you just have horrible school days. To get rid of that stress, we have to realize. Realize why, how, and what makes you late. Believe in yourself.   Sometimes stress can lead to losing self-confidence. And last but not least Reflect. Reflecting is the main solution to handling stress. Reflecting, is like the action plan. Reflecting is the thing that we can change to make better. Say for example the action plan is to wake up 30 minutes earlier. Then, that day you will be thankful that you are early, and you will have a much calmer day at school. After this becomes a daily routine, you will get the hang of being early and having less stressful days. You will start being more thankful that you can be early, and for many other things. And that's where gratitude comes in. All the things that you are thankful for will all pile up and you will finally have lots of gratitude and only day-day stress.

Sadly, not everyone goes through the process of knocking out stress. Once the day-day stress becomes too much to handle and you can't go through the process of handling stress, it becomes a problem. If you really cannot handle stress and you don't go through the process of thinking, stress becomes way worse than day-day stress. Then, stress can lead to depression, and much more. So, my advice is as quickly as we can, start reflecting and piling up things we have gratitude for. But remember, gratitude will not just come in one day, all we have to do is be patient and understanding.

 

Therefore, having day-day stress is good, but anymore stress can be overwhelming. So, remember when you are stressed out, realize, believe in yourself, and reflect. After you do that, don't expect everything to be fine in a week. It may take a few months, or even a year to get rid of lots of stress. "Don't give up though, we just got to trust the process!", like Joel Embid (The NBA player) said. Joel Embid plays on the Philadelphia 76ers last year and they struggled to win. But Joel Embid didn't lose faith in his team. He just realized they had to be patient and believe in themselves. And look at them now! They're doing so much better than last year!

  Imagine the perfect holiday:  family and friends come over, there is laughter and bonding, and happiness abounds.  Now imagine the same scene and in walks Aunt Laura. "Oh my, you've gotten so big," she exclaims to your sensitive 14 year old daughter, "I'm afraid the clothes I bought for you won't fit."  Next, Grandma sits at the table talking about how she has been following the Whole30 movement, and has eliminated sugars, grains, legumes, dairy and additives. She is on Day 15 and oh my, she can't eat anything that is being served!  Uncle Ben is talking about the latest marathon he ran, his new personal best and was in the top 10 for his age group.  An argument erupts because Grandpa is overdrinking and is not a happy drunk.  Whew!  The holidays!

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