Welcome to September!
I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and that you feel rejuvenated and are ready for all that comes with return to school, schedules, homework, etc. Year after year I hear from parents, youth and professionals that September is the most challenging month of the year due to transitions, new challenges and pressures with too much to do with too little time to do it.
YHC will be studying the topic of “Stress” all year. To quote the psychologist Wayne Dyer, “The components of anxiety, stress, fear and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.” Hans Selye writes, “Man should not try to avoid stress any more than he would shun food, love or exercise. It is not necessarily bad but rather depends on how we approach it and how we deal with it.”
We know from research across many disciplines that stress can not be defined by a single definition, but rather that it is composed of a range of different experiences, pathways, responses and outcomes that are the result of a wide variety of events and circumstances. We know that the experience of feeling stressed may be unavoidable today for many. People feel stressed when they think they can’t handle the demands placed upon them. However, when there is enough time, experience and resources to manage a situation, stress does not necessarily become a negative life force.
We will be hosting presenters through the year who will address a wide spectrum of topics relating to stress for children, teens and families including ways to behaviorally and cognitively manage stress, healthy habits and lifestyle tools for proactively dealing with stress, resiliency as a mindset for stress relief, Special Education and stress, and how to care for yourself and prevent burnout.
Unchecked stress has physiological and mental consequences. Our hope is that we can all learn and develop a full understanding of stress, its implications and impact, and ways to live positively in a world that is fast paced and “stressful.”
Two websites to suggest:
- For teens: www.thinkquest.org (library-stress)
- For Parents: www.theantidrug.com/advice/safeguarding and monitoring-skills/teens-stress
