Week 9 Discussion

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Sisu is a concept from Finland that means you can beat the odds. Challenges may come your way, but you are not going to give up.

In this interview (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/functioning-flourishing/201801/are-you-tougher-you-think (Links to an external site.)), Emilia Lahti offers five specific actions you can take to build up sisu so that you can endure and even thrive in moments of extreme stress. 

For this discussion, pick one of the five actions and describe how you will work to build your capacity to do this. How will cultivating this specific action help you? 

To receive full credit, remember to also write three posts in the discussion: one original and two responses to other students. Provide scholarly, cited responses where applicable. Do not use Wikipedia. Use the library or reputable source to support your posts.

Example of a Great Post: 

In looking at the five actions presented by McQuaid (2018), I will focus on “adopting an action mindset” (para. 9). This step seems to best correspond with the course materials from our webtext this week. Most stress I deal with would be considered daily hassles. As Myers (2014) points out, even these everyday annoyances can be toxic. As an online student pursuing a degree in nursing, working, and raising a family, I do have daily hassles.

For this assignment I want to talk about the process of stress appraisal as outlined by Myers (2014). In week 5 we had our signature assignment outline due (this was my stressful event). When I first read the ‘to do’ list for week 5, I felt a little anxious. Then I read the assignment directions. I will be honest, my first thought (appraisal) was “This is too much!” Or, as the model indicates, I saw it as a threat.

I called out for my dog, Budget and took him for a run. In reading our webtext this week, page 9.7, this was a great way to reduce stress because it is exercise. Budget is a big dog and likes to run so it was definitely an aerobic activity.

After a good run I came back to the class and read the announcement and email from our instructor and realized “I got this.” I went back to the assignment and read through it again and began to organize my thoughts. I moved from a negative/fearful reaction to an empowered one. I have always been interested in homelessness and psychodynamic theory. I quickly realized this assignment is a great way to address both these concepts and to have fun doing so. In this regard I was using an active mindset and I felt excited about the project! As the week progressed, I stayed focused, just like it the chart on page 9.2 shows.

Adopting an active mindset and remembering the importance of how I appraise a situation (an assignment for example) can help me in both education and career. When I reevaluated the situation, and accepted it as a challenge and not a threat, I engaged in an active mindset. So the next time I read about an assignment I will focus on having a “challenged” not a “threat” appraisal. As we learn this week, the same situation can be perceived completely differently by another person. I will be the person who sees a new activity as a challenge, be that at work, with family, or school.

McQuaid, M. (2018, January 10). Are you tougher than you think? An interview with Emilia Lathi. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/functioning-flourishing/201801/are-you-tougher-you-think

Myers, D. (2014). Psychology (4th ed.). Soomo.