There are a lot oflegitimate reasons for you to experience stress.   Below is the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale.  Take a moment to tally up your stress numbers to see how your stress may be affecting your health.

Life event	Life change units
Death of a spouse	100
Divorce	73
Marital separation	65
Imprisonment	63
Death of a close family member	63
Personal injury or illness	53
Marriage	50
Dismissal from work	47
Marital reconciliation	45
Retirement	45
Change in health of family member	44
Pregnancy	40
Sexual difficulties	39
Gain a new family member	39
Business readjusment	39
Change in financial state	38
Change in frequency of arguments	35
Major mortgage	32
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
Change in responsibilities at work	29
Child leaving home	29
Trouble with in-laws	29
Outstanding personal achievement	28
Spouse starts or stops work	26
Begin or end school	26
Change in living conditions	25
Revision of personal habits	24
Trouble with boss	23
Change in working hours or conditions	20
Change in residence	20
Change in schools	20
Change in recreation	19
Change in church activities	19
Change in social activities	18
Minor mortgage or loan	17
Change in sleeping habits	16
Change in number of family reunions	15
Change in eating habits	15
Vacation	13
Christmas	12
Minor violation of law	11

Score of 300+: At risk of illness.

Score of 150-299+: Risk of illness is moderate (reduced by 30% from the above risk).

Score 150-: Only has a slight risk of illness.

(Susan Erasmus, Health24, updated July 2013, Sources: nih.gov; health24.com; wikipedia.com)

If you have multiple life stressors simultaneously happening in your life, it would make sense for you to be feeling poorly and feel like your life is out of your control.  Many of these stressors relate to events that are out of your control, and many of them involve people who are out of your control.   Then there is the snowball effect – the stress causes negative physical issues, such as depriving you of sleep or causing an illness, which adds to your stress level.

Another way to gauge your stress is to gauge the life event stress level from 1 to 10, and then to multiple it by the level of significance of the person connected to that event.  If someone doesn’t like you (say you rate this with a stress level of 5), but you really don’t care about the opinion of the person who doesn’t like you (their significance is a 1 out of 10), then the stress level of this situation is only a 5.  However, if your spouse doesn’t like you, and their significance is a 10, that stress rate just skyrocketed to 50!

So let’s start at the beginning and find out what is stressing you out the most right now by rating yourself both ways and see how to prioritize the management of your stress.

RESET ASSIGNMENT:

1. Look on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale and write down the issues and their rating, from most stress points to least.   Then total them.  Are you at or over 300?  Above or under 150?
2. Use the stress/significance ratio scale and write down the issues that come to mind, and the significance of the person related to that stressor.  Multiply the stress level by the significance level and then list them in order highest to lowest.
3. Compare the 2 lists and create a prioritized final list of which stressors. Determine which ones you will work on first.