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No need to buy a parrot when you have an inquisitive five-year-old boy.
“What does ‘stressed out’ mean, Mom?” asked David the other day. “You and Dad say it all the time.”
“It means…’tired,’” I answered.
“Then I’m stressed out,” he said, with no smirk on his face.
“What do you possibly have to be stressed out about?” I thought. “That the orange marker is drying up and Katherine stole your Superman gummies?”
Then again, why am I so stressed out? I have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and food in the fridge–a lot more than millions of people in this country and billions of others overseas have.
But the applicants for stress camp are many. According to a recent AP poll, about three quarters of people in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and the United Kingdom say they experience stress on a daily basis.
Here’s what Americans worry about: finances (34 percent), jobs (26 percent), family life (16 percent), and health (15 percent).
If multiple jobs, long commutes, and increasingly complex technology are prominent factors causing stress, as they are reported to be, then modern industrial democracies are in trouble.
I think we all ought to go color with an orange marker and steal a Superman gummy. But I guess even then, we’d be stressed out.
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Previous Posts
Therapy Thursday: Sweat
posted 6:01:57am Feb. 09, 2012 | read full post »
Scrupulosity: What It Is and Why It's Dangerous
posted 6:17:35am Feb. 07, 2012 | read full post »
The Treasures of Darkness
posted 6:06:40am Feb. 06, 2012 | read full post »
On Groundhog Day: 12 Winter Depression Busters
posted 6:30:47am Feb. 02, 2012 | read full post »
6 Ways to Stay Resilient in Stress
posted 6:00:24am Jan. 31, 2012 | read full post » |
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
Meet others on the journey in
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
posted February 15, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Okay – so is it a Catholic thing to think “there are children starving in Africa so you should be happy with your broccoli?” If we already feel crappy about something in life, why do we make ourselves feel worse by thinking about ourselves as whiners, just because other people’s lives are even crappier? Is there a better way to be compassionate – to the starving children in Africa AND ourselves – when we’re having a bad day?
posted February 26, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Did you happen to see the study on kids and parental job stress?This little guy’s lucky to be so “stressed out”–a lot of kids are stuck absorbing parental stress, whether via mood osmosis or the stress created in their lives when parents can’t be there as much they need.