The Age of Stress as a Precedent

The cover story of Time Magazine on June 6th, 1983 declared America “In the Age of Stress”. It depicted us as a society consumed by demands for our resources and threats to our well-being.
Since that time in 1983 when the official diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was first categorized by the Board of Medicine and Psychology there has been little effort made to define the parameters of stress, thus leaving us (the lay-person) to define ANYTHING with an overwhelming effect…. as stress.
Because stress is a natural form of physical reaction to our environment, I feel it vital to understand the nervous system, its fundamental (base) response, and its contradictions.
The word “stress” has been so overly used and emphasized, as to describe everything from marital discord to juvenile delinquency, that I find it prudent to discuss the implications of typical (physical) stress vs. the “stress scapegoat”.

Stress has now become a way to blame our fears and psychological malaise on every unpropitious occurrence. These situations could easily be handled if we understood our personal reactions and childhood traumas, and knew the difference between a natural Fight/Flight response or an overly stimulated psyche.

Got yours?

The belief that perfection can be achieved affects the lives of countless numbers of people. Many people are obsessed with achieving perfection to the point that it affects their physical and psychological well being. These individuals are commonly referred to as “perfectionists.” They seek the perfect mate, the perfect job, the perfect body, and they are often unhappy in their quest.

Even the most mundane task can become an ordeal since the task must be performed to an exacting standard. These people experience disappointment and dissatisfaction and are often unable to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. They believe that perfection is attainable; they experience falling short of the goal as failure. These individuals spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make certain that they will avoid making mistakes.

Perfection is meant to be an abstract ideal toward which we strive in an attempt to gain proficiency and to excel. It is a concept designed to spur us on to greater heights. The meaning of the word perfection is illustrated by the phrase “striving toward perfection.” Few people who adopt seeking perfection as a value (as opposed to achieving perfection) expect to achieve it. Seeking perfection merely connotes that process of moving closer to an abstract ideal.

The British have a saying that encourages people to show their skills while mocking the universal “fear of failure”:  Do your worst.

If you can’t tolerate your worst, at least once in a while…… how true to yourself can you be?

I would like to take a moment in writing  and reflecting – to recognize – to honor… those having passed from this world, those left to grieve… and those just entering as newborns. (Two of my dear friends mothers have died, and two of my friends have had babies.)

How odd, as I sit and contemplate the meaning of “being” in this world. The way in which birth and death has no bias. The way in which this elegant cycle continues as it has since the dawn of man. The grieving of loss, the celebration of new life. The paradox, and the prodigy all tangled up like silver necklaces in a box together.

I am a fortunate soul, I am loved and I love. Those who intrust me with their darkest hour are my saviors, as they bring me to my own realizations and lighten my load by giving me theirs. We seem to grieve everything so I’ve come to see. We even grieve our electricity being shut off by a storm! And oddly enough, there those who grieve childbirth as much as the loss of a loved one.

Powerful teacher is grief and I am a good student.

But the most immersive moments of our lives is when we grieve and feel alone, for only then will we emerge to find our hands being warmed by another. Only then can you behold the miracle of your own birth.

"Focus on the Apple"

In the modern world, we face a variety of social and technical problems requiring the concentration and consideration of a rational thought process. So, the question at hand is how you make a decision under stressful conditions by using rational thought processes when your natural instincts tend toward a quick and possibly irrational decisions or responses.

The biggest difference in decision making under stress vs. decision making without stress is – irrational vs. rational thinking. When you are able to make a decision under a non-stress filled condition, you are able to think and act more rationally. A decision made under stressful conditions is much more irrational.

The “stress response” is aimed at an immediate physical reaction. For example; activities, which are planning, or situations that require your focused attention such as meetings or training workshops, will loose their importance and priority.

The reason for this is simple, under stress; the quickest physical reaction dominates the most appropriate action. There are natural tendencies under these conditions for the brain to reduce the search for, and acceptance of, new information, and to return to “dominant responses” which will oversimplify the alternatives available, to reduce the perceived time to make a decision, and to perceive threat and hostility more strongly than during normal decision making without the stress response activation.

“Why can’t this be easy!”
“When will I ever get it”
“Is there really a GOD?”

There’s got to be an answer out there that will satisfy your personal disappointments and ever spiraling out of control addictions, compulsions, and loneliness. Even if it’s not as bad as all that, you still need to know you are a part of something… albeit anything! We have all read everything we can get our hands on about “being connected, manifestation, power of belief, etc” but theorizing, hypothesizing, and therapyzing have already left you (or soon will) frustrated and angry.
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