1.Relationships are the proving grounds upon which we show how well we have learned to manage stress.”

• Reflect on and discuss this statement, as always, with personal examples of successes in managing stress. In addition, if you are comfortable with it, provide a situation you’d consider less than successful. If appropriate, discuss why you succeeded in some relationship events and were not so successful in others.

2. Making Relationships Work says that, in a successful relationship, “There should be room for personal growth, …” and that, “expectations should be kept to a minimum …” At the same time, modern society, especially today with the plethora of “reality shows,” seems to insist on setting ever increasing relationship expectations. A primary difficulty with any relationship is how to successfully balance individuality and togetherness.

• Discuss your views on the text’s assertion and society’s interaction with it. As always, where appropriate, use personal examples.

                                                   SAMPLE SOLUTION

Since relationships can be a source of stress and can also be used to alleviate the effects of stress (Corey & Corey, 2010). Consequently, they can be used to determine how well one can manage stress.  Managing relationships require communication to prevent issues from piling up and causing unnecessary stress. Maintaining a relationship means not letting it turn from being a source of joy to a source of stress. For instance, when I felt my friend was not able to empathize with my problems, and I was the one who cared more, I explicitly expressed what I felt and gave specific examples. However, I also had to recognize that by sometimes insisting that I can handle a situation, I give the wrong information, and it is unfair to expect someone to read my mind. Knowing this fact about me has prevented a lot of misunderstanding as I make conscious effort to improve.

Q2

Expectations can be a positive thing as they give people something to work towards (Silliman, 2016). However, the problem is when these expectations are unmet regularly. Unmet expectations weigh down on a relationship and can cause the relationship to end. Unrealistic expectations can arise from seeing what happens, in reality, shows and thinking the same applies to your relationship. Communication can explain some of the hope as we can expect something when the other party is unaware that we expect that from them. Since every person comes with expectations which are a result of years of learning what any given relationship should be like, we should be able to respect that and communicate to iron out issues to prevent the relationship from feeling like something with a lot of obligations.