In a world that seems to be so divided on so many subjects, one thing that everyone can universally agree on is the fact that life can get stressful. No matter what age you are, where you are in your education or career, sometimes life can get too overwhelming. Sometimes it feels like nothing is ever going right in your life, and it feels as if the whole world is turned against you. Even just after my first semester of college, I’m beginning to see this more than ever.
However, throughout the years, I’ve also noticed that we tend to play a game that puts us on a slippery slope: it feels as though we’re in a constant battle with those who surround us on who is more stressed. There have been countless times where I have been unknowingly lamenting about the amount of work I’ve let pile on top of me (this is partially due to my unfortunate habit of procrastination, but that’s a topic for another article) only to have it met with a longer list of tasks the other person has to complete. Even if it hasn’t happened to me, I almost always see it happening to other people, whether we know it or not.
We seem to equate stress to productivity, and possess a natural tendency pursue it for this reason. The pursuit of being busy and overwhelmed manifests into always attempting to one up another person’s amount of work. And it isn’t just work, it can happen with accomplishments, or even just unfortunate events in someone’s life. We need to start realizing that everyone’s accomplishments and misfortunes are valid, including our own. Life can be daunting and scary, and you never know the full story on the other person’s life. After all, what may seem like a walk in the park to one person may be climbing a mountain to another.