I plan to examine where I fall in relation to Selye's theory and how stress has positively impacted my life along with the adverse emotions that are evoked as a response to stress.

Authors Avatar

        Stress is defined “as any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well- being and that thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten, pp.530). Stress can happen anywhere at anytime such as at home, school, work and even sports. The fact is that stress happens to all of us all of our lives and we can’t hide from it. Because of this, stress has always carried a negative connotation when in fact stress is a leading contributor to the successes in our lives. We all need stress because without it life would be less exciting and challenging. Therefore, stress is a source of motivation and a necessary component to our success and survival. Of course there is the negative perspective to stress. Stress is known to evoke many emotional responses such as anger, irritability, depression and so on.  Whether stress can be positive or negative depends on the individual and how they cope with stressful situations. Hans Selye, a theorists who coined the term stress proposed that “there are two main types of human beings: ‘racehorses,’ who thrive on stress and are only happy with a vigorous, fast-paced lifestyle; and ‘turtles,’ who in order to be happy require peace, quiet, and a generally tranquil environment”(Weiten, pp.538). With that, I plan to examine where I fall in relation to Selye’s theory and how stress has positively impacted my life along with the adverse emotions that are evoked as a response to stress.  

Join now!

        First, I would like to preface this by giving a brief summary of my family background. I was raised in a family of six, my mother and father, and three older brothers. My family was very academically and athletically competitive which stemmed mainly from my dad’s background. He is a very well known and respected educator and coach at Central Catholic High School serving as the A.P. and Honors Chemistry teacher and the Head Coach of the football team for 36 years. He raised all four of us to compete at the highest levels academically and athletically. As you can ...

This is a preview of the whole essay