David DiPaola
Writing Assignment #2

When I feel stressed, I get this bad feeling in my gut, probably about where my stomach is. It's like having the "butterflies" sensation, but it lasts for hours, days, weeks, or months in some cases. Other symptoms which manifest are drowsiness, inability to sleep, inability to concentrate, "fidgetiness", and lack of appetite. Generally, stress makes me feel like total garbage. This then effects my activities like work and school, and I feel worse because my performance in these areas has degraded. It forms a cycle which I've found to be really hard to escape. This cycle obviously has an effect on my self-confidence as well. As I become more stressed, I feel more and more that I'm a failure and can't do anything right. Again, this is cyclical and causes me to put things off, since I don't feel I can accomplish them anyway. Lately, I've also experienced soreness in my jaw muscles. I attribute this to stress since I've had some bad dreams lately which have been brought on by my currently stressful situation. I also experience neck and shoulder tension as well as increased lower back muscle tension, which worsens my existing tension problem due to scoliosis. Generally, all the parts that make me up feel tumultuous and like I'm sitting inside of a beehive. In spiritual matters, I find that it's usually in stressed times that I seek help from God. Though this is not always the case, I'm usually hard headed and think I'm "the man" when things are going well. So, in a spiritual sense, I feel stress helps me grow closer to God, but not in the way I'd like to. I'd much rather come to Him on my own, than be prompted by an external circumstance. Even in writing this, I'm feeling more stressed.

When I'm relaxed, I feel calm and worry free. To me, those things are the definition of a relaxed state. Of course, this is the state that I'd like to be in the most. I feel more clear headed, aware, and focused. I am also more in tune with what my body is feeling. I would describe being in a relaxed state as not being in a stressed state. And, it's my goal to avoid stressed states as much as possible. The metaphor I'd use to describe a non-stressed or relaxed state would be a calmly moving body of water with slight ripples on the surface. Everything feels smoother, colors seem darker and richer, sounds feel more vibrant, and life feels like everything will work out fine. In contrast to what I wrote above, writing this has definitely put me in a very relaxed mood! (I'm glad I chose to write this last)