The Ties That Bind, But Not Too Tight free essay sample

On the first official snow day of the New Year, there is a sense of calm that pervades the cold, bitter air of my small Westchester suburb. With eight inches of snow appearing overnight, the schools are closed, and most adults have stayed home, working over the phone or on their laptops. My own parents are typing furiously, the sounds of their fingers hitting their keyboards reverberating across the room. The ancient heater knocks loudly on the walls, creating a rhythm of sorts that’s somehow both irritating and relaxing. I am curled up on the couch re-reading the fifth Harry Potter, still in pajamas despite the clock just striking 2:00 P.M. It is January of my senior year of high school, still a few weeks to go before the freedom of second semester, and there is work to be done. I have papers to write and tests to study for, but that will have to come later, after I find out, for the twelfth or so time, if Harry and his friends have defeated Lord Voldemort. We will write a custom essay sample on The Ties That Bind, But Not Too Tight or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In a few minutes, I will check on the status of the ready-made chocolate chip cookies my parents and I threw into the oven a little while ago. None of us claim to be bakers, but these cookies seem impossible to ruin. Yet sure enough, when I gingerly open the oven, each cookie is attached to its neighbor. â€Å"I guess we put them too close together,† my father says with a shrug of his shoulders, but we laugh and eat the burning-hot cookies anyway, licking the gooey chocolate off our lips. When I go back downstairs, I grab my book and return to the couch, my stomach happily full. After I read a few more chapters, I will do a bit of work, and possibly even please my mother by attempting to organize the chaos that is my room. In a couple of hours, I will go driving with my father through the snow-covered streets. I need to experience driving in bad weather, he says, and I agree, albeit unhappily. Later tonight, I will watch a movie with my parents, maybe Winter’s Bone, one of the last remaining films I need to see before the Oscar nominations are announced. If all goes according to plan, I will barely leave my house all day, and will accomplish next to nothing. It will be perfect. As the only child, my bond with my parents is immensely strong. It has always been the three of us, a family of dark brown hair and pale skin. I am a reader like my mother, a writer like my father. I have my mother’s love for lists and order, my father’s dark sense of humor. Like most teenagers, I often choose the company of my friends over my parents, but unlike many others my age, I’ve never felt the desire to leave home, and my parents, the moment I’m able. We are a team, my parents and I, a threesome who find enjoyment out of watching movies and burning cookies. We are all aware that days like today, lazily spent in each other’s company, are numbered. In seven months time, everything will change, for better or for worse. I will be at college, although the specific school has not yet been decided. Most likely, it will come down to a sprawling, popular upstate university, or a smaller, close-knit school in the city. I have a few months before I’m forced to make a choice, but in the meantime, I waffle between the two. I can easily picture myself at both schools, cheering on the football team at the first or exploring the city streets at the second. They are entirely different schools, but I love them both. I don’t want to have to decide. Wherever I end up next year, I am sure I will be happy. I will join interesting clubs, take challenging classes, and make new friends that will change my life. Most importantly, though, I will be on my own, connected to my parents only by phone and computer. It is a fact that both frightens and excites me; every choice, every action, will be completely my own to make. Of course, my parents will always be an enormous part of my life, but college will change things. I hope I am ready. For now, though, I will push those thoughts aside and enjoy what’s left of the day. There’s a book to read, a movie to watch, and a slightly burnt, misshaped chocolate chip cookie that’s calling my name.

Kafkas The Metamorphosis as an existential exercise.

Kafkas The Metamorphosis as an existential exercise. Sisyphus Shrugged:Symbolic Alienation in The MetamorphosisThe grotesque world is and is not our own world. The ambiguous way in which we are affected by it results from our awareness that the familiar and apparently harmonious world is alienated under the impact of abysmal forces, which break it up and shatter its coherence. Wolfgang KayserModernity has added irony to injury. The study of the humanities is intended to bridge something inescapable in the human condition: the fundamental alienation of the individual. The keen reader of literature will gradually grow familiar with the unifying substance that binds peoples of all times and cultures. Joseph Campbell, quite famous for his work in mythology, says that storytelling is "the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation" (3). Apparently, it is through our (that is, mankind's) use of symbols that we tap our humanity, and our universal experience.Gregor Robertson, Founder of Happy PlanetWhen symbolic imagery is used, whether or not it is used consciously, it is an appeal to dream, and thus an appeal to the psychological fabric that we all share. Of course, that's the way it's supposed to be. Existentialism, nihilism, and Marxism are all viable alternative philosophies that celebrate, if a nihilist can be said to celebrate anything at all, in man's alienation. These darker, strikingly modern philosophies are well applied to The Metamorphosis, though a formalistic approach to the book's symbols does in fact help illustrate their themes.Gregor Samsa does not fit conveniently fit Campbell's archetype of the hero. The reason for this should be clear: Gregor is not a typical hero. He is rather the unwilling, perhaps unwitting antihero in an absurd circus that is the modern world. Gregor's world, as well as the world of many existentialists, exists...

Donts for Getting Letters of Recommendation for Graduate School

Donts for Getting Letters of Recommendation for Graduate School Writing letters of recommendation is generally part of a faculty members job. Students need these letters to get into graduate schools. Indeed, grad school admissions committees generally wont accept applications that lack these important letters because they reflect the professor or faculty members assessment of a student applicant. Students need not feel powerless in the process because they do, indeed, have a great deal of influence over the letters that faculty members write. While professors rely on a students academic history in writing letters of recommendation, the past isnt all that matters. Professors impressions of you are important too - and impressions constantly change based on your behavior. There are things you should avoid to ensure that the professors you approach for letters see you in a positive light. To avoid problems, dont: Misinterpret a Faculty Members Response Youve asked a faculty member to write you a letter of recommendation. Carefully interpret his response. Often faculty members provide subtle cues that indicate how supportive a letter they will write. Not all letters of recommendation are helpful. In fact, a lukewarm or somewhat neutral letter will do more harm than good. Virtually all letters that graduate admissions committee members read are very positive, usually providing glowing praise for the applicant. However, a letter that is simply good- when compared with extraordinarily positive letters - is actually harmful to your application. Ask faculty  members if they can provide you with a helpful letter of recommendation rather than simply a letter. Push for a Positive Response Sometimes a faculty member will decline your request for a letter of recommendation outright. Accept that. She is doing you a favor because the resulting letter would not help your application and instead would hinder your efforts. Wait Until the Last Minute Faculty members are busy with teaching, service work, and research. They advise multiple students and likely are writing many letters for other students. Give them enough notice so that they can take the time required to write a letter that will get you accepted into graduate school. Approach a faculty member when he has the time to discuss it with you and consider it without time pressure. Dont ask immediately before or after class. Dont ask in a hallway. Instead, visit during the professors office hours, the times intended for interaction with students. It often is helpful to send an email requesting an appointment and explaining the purpose of the meeting. Provide Unorganized or Inaccurate Documentation Have your application materials with you when you request your letter. Or follow up within a couple of days. Provide your documentation all at once. Dont offer a curriculum vitae one day, and a transcript on another. Anything you provide the professor must be free of errors and must be neat. These documents represent you and are an indicator of how serious you view this process as well as the quality of work you will do in grad school. Dont make a professor have to ask you for basic documentation. Forget Submission Materials Include program-specific application sheets and documents, including websites to which faculty submit letters. Dont forget to include login information. Dont make faculty ask for this material. Dont let a professor sit down to write your letter and find that she does not have all of the information. Alternatively, dont let a professor try to submit your letter online and find that she doesnt have the login info. Rush the Professor. A friendly reminder sent a week or two before the deadline is helpful; however, dont rush the professor or offer multiple reminders. Forget to Express Appreciation Your professor took the time to write for you - at minimum an hour of his time - so take the time to thank him, either verbally, or by sending a thank you letter or note. Remember that you want your letter writers to be in a good mood when they write your recommendation and to feel good about you and their decision to support your application to graduate school. Write a thank you note to your recommender and when you ask for another letter in the future (and you will - either for another graduate school program or even a job), the faculty member will be much more likely to write you another helpful and positive recommendation letter.

American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

American history - Essay Example The temperance movement was a culmination of growing religious and moral sentiments in the North. The main goal of the temperance movement according to Blocker, Tyrrell and Fahey was â€Å"to define and control alcohol consumption† (40). During the colonial era drinking was socially acceptable but in the nineteenth century it was found to be no longer respectable as it viewed as the cause of social evils. Alcoholism was often associated with evils such as domestic violence, poverty, crime, prostitution and poor health and as such needed to be regulated. The aim was not to ban drinking and eliminate the production of alcohol but to moderate its use as it was affecting the economic development. Later in the nineteenth century, the movement advocated for abstinence from drinking alcoholic beverages and this goal was achieved in 1920 when â€Å"manufacture, sale and transport of alcoholic beverages in the US and its possessions† was prohibited nationwide through the eightee nth Amendment to the US constitution (Blocker et al. 42). The first national organization responsible for temperance efforts was the American Temperance Society (ATS) founded in 1826. Women also played a great role in pushing for temperance reforms as they had moral influence. They did this through Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) formed in 1874. Another organization that played crucial role in pushing for legislative agenda was the Anti-Saloon League of America (ASLA). It saw the passing of eighteenth Amendment although it was repealed in 1833. The Educational Reform movement was also prominent during this period. Education was viewed as the cause and solution of many problems in the society hence it was geared to solving current problems of each epoch. Reformers like John Dewey believed that the society could only be reformed through education reforms (Horn 42). According to Berube (99) and Horn (41-55) there were

Economic, political and technological factors that have turned China Assignment

Economic, political and technological factors that have turned China into a fast emerging economy - Assignment Example The rapid economic development has been made possible by large foreign direct investments, rise in productivity, political reforms and technological advancements (Lampton, 2008). Owing to these transformations, there has been a sharp rise in China’s economic growth, where national poverty figures moved from being more than 65 % to below 10 % within three decades, wherein nearly 500 million people were removed from below poverty level and the country managed to meet a majority of their Millennium Development Goals (World Bank, 2012, p. 4). While rate of growth varied across the country, the growth was sharp in almost all parts and the 31 provinces that came under mainland China (if considered to be independent economies) were seen as a part of the world’s 32 most rapidly growing economies (World Bank, 2012, p.4). Owing to the sharp economic growth, currently â€Å"2 of the world’s top 10 banks are now Chinese; 261 Chinese companies are on the Global Fortune 500 l ist; and China is home to the world’s second-largest highway network, the world’s 3 longest sea bridges, and 6 of the world’s 10 largest container ports. The country has also made large strides in health, education, science, and technology† (World Bank, 2012, p.4). Various factors lie behind China’s strong socio-economic growth, which includes various economic, political and technological factors. ... Rapid economic growth is evinced by a country’s economic figures, such as trade volumes, foreign reserves, higher gross domestic product (GDP), and GDP per capita. Thus, a fast emerging economic growth translates into increasing financial gains for foreign investors that in turn brings in more foreign investment into a country, which supports rapid economic growth. In order to attract more foreign investors, countries aim at framing effective macroeconomic policies that are open to global trade. Emerging Market Economies tend to be more open to global trade with business models that are export oriented, and these models later serve to variegate the products and services exported by the country. Economic experts contend that diversification and integration of national economy into the global economy help in decreasing after-effects of sharp fluctuations within global prices or economic crises, thus bringing stability for the country that in turn attracts more foreign investors (Williams, 2011). In the context of framing sound macroeconomic policies that influence wider aspects of a country’s economy, it can be suggested that effective policies help in stabilizing cash flows, which keep foreign investments safe. Sound macroeconomic policies include liberalisation of national banks, privatisation of public enterprises, and opening up of stock markets in order to give easy accessed to foreign investors, decrease in external debt and framing sound monetary and fiscal policies. Since the start of economic reforms during late 1970s, China has slowly turned into one of the fastest-emerging economies of the world. A look at China’s economy reveals that starting from

Cultures And Values In Human Society

Cultures And Values In Human Society Culture is the essential part of the humans society. Every person is spending his or her life within a certain cultural community. It frequently defines what kinds of person a man or woman is and what values will they have. Does the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology? Let us discuss this topic step by step. To understand it better, we can at first define what the cultural environment is and what influence it has on people within it. The very nature of the cultural environment is cultural and social aspects. It is could also be called a social context and sometimes milieu. It is a culture of a society or a group where a certain person is living or getting an education; it is institutions and people who interact with a certain human. By interaction we can mean not only different types of personal communication (like on a workplace, in class, with neighbors etc.); people could also communicate with each other by means of different communicational media (like phone, internet, newspapers, television etc). In spite of non personal type of the communication, people whom a man or a woman meets in internet can have an influence on his or her values and point of view. Also television and other mass media form our perception of life and other people little by little. This type of interaction we c an call one way or anonymous. It does not always imply the equality of the social status. Thus, the concept of a social environment is wider that the concept of a social circle or a social class. Nevertheless, it is common that those people who have the same social environment start having a sense of solidarity. They easily help and trust each other; also they tend to create a social group. As a result, those people will always have a similar way of thinking and similar patterns even if they make different conclusions. It shows us that people depend on society and culture around them very much whether they recognize this fact or not. Let us briefly define what culture itself is. It is going to help us understand what kind of effect it has on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology. There is plenty of information about culture and different consequences of it. It is impossible to transmit a culture through genealogy. Culture is not something innate; culture is something that everybody should learn. Different facets of it are interrelated; a culture is spread by those people within a group. Nowadays different cultures could easily exist within a country side by side (like it commonly happens in African countries). According to Hoebel (1960), the definition of a culture is following: The integrated sum total of learned behavioral traits that are manifest and shared by members of society. According Lawton (1975), culture includes age grading, religious rituals and athletic sport. According to Frow (1995) there are traditional differences in task and doing business were breaking down and this meant that standardization rather than adaptation is becoming increasingly prevalent. Probably, a culture is one of the most significant environmental variables that should be considered within a global marketing. Often a culture could not be freely overlooked; it often hiding from a view. Culture consists of some elements; they are language, aesthetics, religion, values and attitudes, education, social organization and material culture. It is necessary to discuss briefly every element of it. Material culture includes communications, power, transportations and others. Language is the next aspect of culture. It is a reflection of the values and nature of a certain society group. It could be sub-cultural languages, for example, dialects; in some countries it could be two or even more languages. Aesthetics includes art, dancing, arts-music. It concerns good taste, beauty, form and color of it. Education, as it is easy to see, includes the transmission of ideas, attitudes, skills and training in certain disciplines as well. Moreover, education serves as a transmitter of cultural and social values. Sometimes a child was introduced to the cultural value by school or later by university. Religion gives the humans behavior the best insight and as well it helps us to answer different questions, for example, why people behave n this way and not in another. We can see that culture is a complicate conception; it includes different aspects. What can we say about values conception? What is commonly meant by values? Shortly, by values a person may mean something that is really matter to him or her. It is beliefs and ideas somebody holds as special. Social and cultural environment forms ones values. Home, church school there are just some places where people could study values that are common for everybody within their cultural environment. Teachers, friends, parents are forming our personal system of values from day to day. As a result we have personal values. Arts et al. (2003) summarized that they consist of something that we accepted from people around as and that part that came with our own life experience. It is too compulsory to accept everything a person is hearing around him or her; nevertheless, values of cultural environment around us has its strong influence on our own system of values. Now, when we recognize what values, culture and cultural environment commonly mean we can examine the direct effect that the cultural environment has on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology. Before discussing the influence of a cultural environment on a person according to anthropology let us briefly mention the definition of the science. Saying shortly anthropology is the inquiry of humanity. Its origins throw back in the social sciences, natural science and humanities. The term itself is taken from the ancient Greek language and has two parts: man and study or discourse. The matters of anthropology are how do people behave, what are their physical traits, why we can see differences and variations between groups of people, and finally who was the ancestor of the modern humans. Anthropology is commonly divided in to four fields; they are cultural, or social, anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology and biological, or physical, anthropology. We can see that anthropology itself is the science that studies social and cultural values, differences, origins, roots etc. Thus, it is important to talk about the influence of culture environment according to this certain science. According to anthropology, a culture could be seated deeply; unprepared person could take some type of a culture like something senseless, strange and even cruel. Let us give an example. According to the Muslim culture a woman must cover her face with yashmak and hide herself from any alien. Nilaweera Wijetunga (2005) emphasized that this custom could appear strange and senseless to any person from Europe, United States or numeral other countries where people flaunt a womans form openly. Here is another example of the opposite culture. In some African countries (like Congo, Kenya etc) women do not wear top cloths. Oyeshile (2004) explained this fact that according to their culture, their traditions and according to their hot climate they do not consider the top of the female body something that they should cover or hide. There are many other different examples of things and customs that are unacceptable and even criminal in one part of the world; at the same time at another part of it people consider it the culture and commonly do it. Summarizing this short extract we can see that cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology. Continue the two examples above, a woman from the African country where there is not common or compulsory to cover her body with upper wear have values that are different from the values that are precious for a woman from a Muslim country. If those women could try to explain themselves their culture, values and reasons why they are keeping those culture values they would hardly understand each other. It is common that Muslim people condemn women from Europe and America. For them even the most modest and restrained American female seems to be a woman without culture values because she shows certain part of her body What can we say about the influence of the social environment on personal values for psychology? What is psychology? It is the science of the humans behavior and mind. This science is an attempt to understand humanity by exploring certain specific cases and by discovering some general principles as well. One of the main goals of psychology is to benefit the society. Scientists who involved in it we can divide in to some groups: cognitive scientists, social scientists and behavioral scientists. Among others, social behavior is among different subjects of psychology. The science of psychology explores following concepts: emotion, cognition, phenomenology, perception, attention, brain functioning, behavior, motivation, personality, unconscious mind and interpersonal relationships. As anthropology, the science of psychology is a social science and it has a strong connection with social environment. According to psychology, some type of behavior could be considered normal and other type c ould be considered abnormal. Commonly, humanity has the same nature. For example, murdering and cruelty is considered abnormal in every social group and community. Nevertheless, within some cultures the conception of cruelty may vary. Let us give an example. In American and European countries violation in any form is unacceptable even within a family. Thus people who keep doing it to others would consider psychologically abnormal. According to the culture of some eastern countries, especially countries with Muslim culture, a husband can beat his wife or punish her or in any other way if she does not satisfy him. What kind of misdeed could a wife do? She may cook a food that her husband does not like; she may say a word that her husband could consider unacceptable. People within the community with such culture are considered psychologically normal even if they commit violence every day. According to their culture cruelty is acceptable. A woman is expecting for it and she has no even right to complain. According to the example above we can see that psychological situation within a community could have a strong negative effect on personal values of a human. A person can look at low values of members of the community around him or her and subconsciously this person could understate those values that he or she had before. Psychologically people inclined to depend on society. That is why we can state that the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for psychology. Sociology is the last science that we are going to discuss. It studies the society using different methods of critical analysis and empirical investigations. This science refines and develops knowledge about the activity of human society. One of the aims of sociology is to achieve the social welfare with the mean of the knowledge. Mancheno-Smoak et al. (2009) stated that the field of interests in sociology varies from the micro level of interaction and agency to the macro level of social structures and systems. It is a very broad conception that is focused traditionally on social class, religion, social stratification, social mobility, secularization, deviance and law. It includes all spheres of peoples activity. It is interesting that sociology studies different types of interactions between people. We are living in the age of the world wide globalization when the whole planet is becoming one big house. Different cultural and social communities are not staying separate from each oth er like it was some hundreds years ago. People are moving, migrating and spreading their culture and different values among other societies. Why can we state that according to sociology, the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community? First reason is that people like to communicate with each other. It means that they getting some new knowledge and values. Roniger (1995) declared that when representatives of different cultures are staying in contact for some time they will get used to new values. It will stop being new for them. New cultural values will become common and according to sociology people will start accepting it in their lives. In some time they would not remember that one or another culture or value was not imparted to them. And it is the second reason why the cultural environment has an effect on values of people for sociology. In other words, when people move from one place to another they create a new social group with mixed culture and values. In conclusion of all factors and aspects that we discussed above we can see that anthropology, sociology and psychology are connected between each other. These three sciences are all about the human nature, culture and community. They are examining interactions and cooperation between different people; we can state that the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology because according to these sciences it is up to peoples nature to take something new from others. According to religion, human society was created as one big family. Let us agree that this statement is right; thus, we need to accept that people within a social community have a direct effect on each other in the same way in which members within an ordinary family have. Every science that we discussed has one main aim to make our society better. We need to remember that it is up to everybody to help in achievement of this aim.

Stress Management Reflection

After learning about stress in this class my understanding is that, stress symptoms may be affecting your health, even though you might not realize it. You may think illness is to blame for that nagging headache, your frequent forgetfulness or your decreased productivity at work. But sometimes stress is to blame. Indeed, stress symptoms can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. There is a long list of serious health problems that may develop due to stress.Some include depression, diabetes, hair loss, heart disease, high blood pressure, stomach upset, sleep problems, chest pain, back pain, obesity, obsessive-compulsive or anxiety disorder, sexual dysfunction, tooth and gum disease, ulcers, cancer. Some examples on how stress can affect your behavior are overeating, under eating, angry outbursts, drug or alcohol abuse, increased smoking, social withdrawal, crying spells, relationship conflicts. When you recognize common stress symptoms, you can take steps to manage them.Like we learned in this class stress management could include physical activity, relaxation techniques, mediation, yoga, tai chi, get a massage, and even things like keeping a journal recognizing your stressors and working on them. Everyone is different so finding your own relaxation techniques will help tremendously. Throughout this course I have learned about myself that I am not the only one in the world that has stress, it is more common than I thought. I have learned that if I take the time to do breathing exercises or right a journal about my thoughts I feel a huge relief and a lot less stressed.When I have a lot do I found that if I make a list and plan ahead it helps minimize my stress. I learned that when I am in a very stressful situation or the week has added up to breaking point for me, doing breathing exercises helps me feel way more relaxed and calm. Another thing I learned about myself regarding my relationship with my boyfriend is I have become a negative thinker, due to some issues we had in the past. This causes so much stress in my life that I cannot even begin to explain. However, after taking this class I have learned many ways to cope with this and it has been a tremendous help to me and my relationship.I believe my strengths are keeping organized and motivated. If I am not organized it is a huge stressor for me. When I stay motivated I accomplish a lot more things in one day, which in return is a huge stress relief. Some areas that I show room for improvement are I need to set more weekly or monthly goals for myself instead of just long term goals, by doing this I believe I would feel more accomplished. Another area of improvement for me is I need to have more trust for my boyfriend. Forgive, forget and move on. One last improvement would be to improve my level of self discipline.The topics I related to the most or the ones that I was most interested in were body awareness, breathing exercises, the worry and anxiety chapter, goal setting, and time management. I really enjoyed the body awareness exercises because it recognizes that when stressed the body automatically tenses. Our muscles become hard, tight and tense. Holding this tension is very tiring, and hence, a feeling of fatigue can occur. If the muscular tension has no release, because of the constant stress levels and not knowing how to relax your muscles can cause strain on your body.After doing this exercise in the book I was able to recognize what tense muscles felt and looked like and what relaxed muscles felt and looked like. So now when I have tension I feel that I am better at being able to let it go through body awareness and muscle relaxation. The breathing exercises we did in class I really enjoyed doing, I was able to take this from class and apply to my daily life when I was feeling stressed. I was really able to relate to the worry and anxiety chapter because I used to have huge anxiety problems which I have had counseling to work th rough.Another chapter that interested me was the goal setting chapter because it is something that I have wanted to work on improving myself, so I loved the fact that I had the opportunity to learn more about goal setting and that it had activities in the book. Time management was another big one for me. I feel like learning more about time management helped improve my organization skills. If I was to take this class again I would like to learn more about the different stress relieving techniques. I guess not so much learn about them because we did learn about different ones, but I would have liked to practice more of them.For example, I would have liked a yoga day. I would have liked to learn about more ways to prevent stress, I felt like we learned a lot about what to do when we are stressed but not enough about what to do prevent it. Our true sources of stress aren’t always obvious, and it is way too easy to overlook our own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behavior s. I don’t believe there is anything that is unclear about what we learned in class, our book did a very good job at covering stress management.I felt the books activities were very helpful and for once I bought I book for school that I will go back and refer to for future help. Now that the course has ended and I am more aware of my stressors, my plan is to continue my stress journal where I write about what causes my stress, how it made me feel both physically and mentally, how I acted in response, and what I do to make myself feel better. Also, continue to learn new healthier ways to manage my stress. Change the situation, or change your reaction. Remember the four A’s, avoid, alter, adapt, or accept.Remember my healthy ways to relax and recharge when I am overwhelmed and feeling stressed. Some of the things that work for me are, going and getting a massage, doing something with my mom or sister, playing with my daughter, taking a long bath with lots of lavender sce nt and candles, driving around and listening to my favorite music, and doing one of my many hobbies. If I am noticing that I continue to have a lot of stress I will either find a way to enjoy the situation (except the things I cannot change) or find a way to leave/change the situation.The concepts discussed in this class apply to my future career goals by being constantly stressed out and not knowing how to deal with it can cause lack of motivation. I think that my future career goals call for a lot of motivation, so it would help if the stress in my life was minimal so I could stay focused. Another topic discussed in class that could be applied to future career goals is goal setting and time management. My future career goal is to become an OB nurse, with this job there could be extra stress due to the weird hours worked and just the job it’s self.So I believe the concepts discussed in class I will be able to apply to my future career and my personal everyday life. In conclu sion, after taking this stress management class I have learned that stress has many negative impacts on the body. I learned more about myself in regards to my stressors and I learned about some things that I didn’t even realize were stressing me out. There were topics I could relate to and some I really was interested in. I will continue to write in my stress journal and find ways to help and avoid stress.