We stress. A lot. Put bluntly by Smithsonian Magazine, “Stress is becoming the national psyche.”
We stress about the teetering tower of papers and unread class readings piling up on our desks, the pang of guilt we feel for skipping the gym too many days in a row, and whether that rash on our arm is actually what WebMD says it is.
We stress about the past – if that one offhanded comment we made to a friend two weeks ago is the reason she’s been looking at us funny lately. Or maybe it’s our new haircut… shoot, should we have cut that many inches off? What if that boy we like has something fundamentally against short hair?
We stress about the future – about the Business Law paper due a week from now, or the med school applications due two years from now. Our planners, in all their highlighted and sticky-noted glory, keep us sane. But they also drive us crazy, intimidating us with their week-by-week reminder of all the junk we have yet to do. “Be better,” they seem to tell us. “Look at how behind you are.”
We stress about stress – when the pressure is building and we’re furiously shoveling candy wall from the Huddle like we’re channeling a National Treasure-hunting Nicolas Cage. Somehow, our funny little minds decide that we haven’t had enough, and we lie in bed thinking anxiously about how stressed we are. Stress-ception.
We even stress about not being stressed – when our planners are blank and we’re lounging on the Gulf Shores beach listening to our “SB2k16” playlist, we might feel a nagging suspicion that we’re doing something wrong. There’s got to be something to do besides soak up the sun and sip this Pina Colada; what are we missing?
We probably stress reading this article (…sorry).
We stress, and it’s natural. It’s human. It can be a benevolent force, driving us to succeed and push ourselves to what we know we can accomplish. It keeps us in line and disciplines us just enough to put our great ideas into motion.
Do you think Martin Luther King, Jr. just sauntered up to the Lincoln Memorial and started casually talking about having a dream, paying no mind to the opinions of the 250,000 people hanging on his every word? Guarantee he could’ve used some no-sweat deodorant up on that podium.
And when Pope Francis visited the Central African Republic to reach out, amid a persistent history of Muslim-Christian conflict in one of the world’s most dangerous neighborhoods, do you think he was a little anxious? His heart was likely beating faster than its typical Pope speed.
The trick is recognizing when stress is motivating us, and when it’s making us absolutely tear our hair out. When it’s part of our “fundamental human condition”, and when we’re just beating ourselves up. Sweating over stuff is a natural evolutionary response, a fight-or-flight instinct meant to protect us and keep us on our toes — but sweating the small stuff will just leave us in an unnecessary puddle.
Life throws plenty of curveballs at us as it is. It’s up to us to step back for a second and realize which ones we can hit out of the park and which ones are better left in the dust. Some things we have to do our best to battle, but others just aren’t worth the stress.
Trust me, your haircut looks fine. WebMD is probably wrong about that rash. Heck, you got yourself here; you’re capable of writing that BLaw paper. Enjoy that Pina Colada, you deserve it. And next time you’re under pressure, try not to stress yourself out too much.
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