One of the themes of our course is talking explicitly about skills that are helpful (arguably required) for navigating courses and life at UW but are typically not formally discussed among/with students. Student wellness and managing stress have to be two of the most relevant skills we can practice both at UW and in life in general, but rarely are they talked about in the courses we take! We wanted to provide a place to reflect on these themes, which is the focus of this reading.
In the hopes of switching things up, and to respect the work of people who have been spending a lot of time studying these topics, our reading for today will be in the form of a podcast!! Below is a link to episode 1 from the Feminist Survival Project (there is also a transcript that you can read with or without the audio). It talks generally about stress and wellness, and provides a few ways of thinking about stress that may be relevant. We have also provided some reflection/discussion prompts that may be good to think about ahead of our discussion in lecture.
Feminist Survival Project Episode 1
We can often trick ourselves into thinking that stress is something that can be willed away by our minds, a notion challenged by Emily and Amelia's theme “Wellness is not a state of mind nor is it a state of being. It is a state of action”.
One focus of the podcast was the importance in distinguishing between addressing our stress response and addressing the stressors in our life.
We will discuss the podcast in lecture, so come with your thoughts! Episode 2 in the podcast series is linked below, it recommends some ways you can help complete the stress response cycle in your life. We likely will assign part of it as a reading next week, but feel free to listen to it ahead of time if you'd like!