Stress is a personal journey and fundamental to understanding ourselves - It's time to swap out assumptions for research as we uncover what it means for you.
This was a very interesting read and it is apparent you put a lot of time and research and thought into it and I hope not too much stress 😬.
I couldn't help but think of a scene from a movie called Leaves of Grass that has stuck with me for years.
In it, the main character is sitting outside before a storm in lawn chairs drinking lemonade with a woman. It is the final scene of the movie and the main character begins telling a story about how when he was young he was terrified of thunderstorms, and so one day he went to the library and started trying to learn all he could about them. He learned what caused them, different names for clouds, etc etc. read all sorts of information trying to understand the storms, probably in his mind assuming that it would help his "stress response"
The woman sitting with him listens and when he finishes she asks, "and?"
"They still happened" he responds
This scene resonated deeply with me as someone who has sought to learn insatiably, to consume information often in an effort to strive for control of situations, to be more prepared for any outcome....however this information can sometimes be useful and I'm definitely not knocking learning or education, but I think we can often trick ourselves into thinking that knowledge can do more for us than it can.
Often I think we know deep down more than we practice, as you essentially conclude in your post. I have often been guilty in my life of doing what you claim of always trying to add things rather than consider taking something away. More often than not when we find ourselves in the chronic stress situation which I am all too familiar with my guess is going back to basics will do much more than reading some new self help book or trying to do a dissertation about how not to stress.
Are we eating a fairly balanced diet
Are we getting enough good sleep
Do we have things in our life that we gain meaning or purpose by pursuing
Do we have close connections with at least some people in our lives
Do we feel a part of something larger than just our own selfish desires
These simple questions and the honest responses I think will do much more to elucidate a way to less chronic stress than any amount of information about the amygdala or cortisol in my humble opinion, despite how much I appreciate your discussion of these topics which I also find fascinating.
Thank you for a very thorough and interesting read and j look forward to reading more of your content.
At some points I did have to remind myself why I'm writing and researching, but I'm glad I did it.
I think the point you raise centres around locus of control, where in the case of the main character their aim was to learn as much as they can to gain the capability to predict what will happen and how to react. That is why I ensured not to dabble into the risk factors stress can cause us because a lot of the time, more information actually overcomplicates things.
Your point on stripping back to the basics instead of adding new information or reframing knowledge we already have, in order to almost maintain the complexity of the solutions we have created for ourselves is very pertinent. I'm glad you found the post interesting and it was more so an exploration of why things are the way they are; as a way to kind of see through the noise and revert back to how the basics are the primary pillars we should lead with.
Thank you for your in depth reflections! It is always great to have a reminder to stick to the basics.
Wow, that was a marathon read, I found myself with thoughts and comments as I was reading and I should have made notes as the next idea pushes the last one out of mind.
You went deep, and I know you're not done with the subject.
It seems to me like we don't have enough words for stress and having that as a catch all isn't always helpful.
What I term as stress is all in my head, I'm aware there are physical symptoms of being stressed (perhaps I should say chronically stressed) but I'm not self aware enough to have really noticed and remembered those symptoms at the time.
Perhaps a cold or flu bug I picked up could have been avoided if I had not been feeling so stressed in the past.
I think I had a decent understanding of stress before reading this and I definitely knew some of it, although I was reminded of some other elements that had slipped from my mind. Your deep dive was informative, well written and thorough.
Scientifical sounds like a made up word, so much so I googled it, I should have known in an article like this, written by you, it would be an actual word!
It was most definitely a marathon, it took me weeks to put all the research and ideas together.
It's like a lot of people loosely put the label of stress onto certain reactions which can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. As you say with the physical symptoms, we are able to recognise the effects of acute stressors that in turn make us stressed, but it does in fact affect us throughout our lives. Chronic stress can predispose us to the common cold or bug but also increase the risk of lifelong health conditions.
Thank you Mark, it means a lot that you found this post informative! Trust me I've been there; the amount of times I had to search up a word to check its spelling or to setup a face-off with autocorrect (I lose every time) 😂
This was a very interesting read and it is apparent you put a lot of time and research and thought into it and I hope not too much stress 😬.
I couldn't help but think of a scene from a movie called Leaves of Grass that has stuck with me for years.
In it, the main character is sitting outside before a storm in lawn chairs drinking lemonade with a woman. It is the final scene of the movie and the main character begins telling a story about how when he was young he was terrified of thunderstorms, and so one day he went to the library and started trying to learn all he could about them. He learned what caused them, different names for clouds, etc etc. read all sorts of information trying to understand the storms, probably in his mind assuming that it would help his "stress response"
The woman sitting with him listens and when he finishes she asks, "and?"
"They still happened" he responds
This scene resonated deeply with me as someone who has sought to learn insatiably, to consume information often in an effort to strive for control of situations, to be more prepared for any outcome....however this information can sometimes be useful and I'm definitely not knocking learning or education, but I think we can often trick ourselves into thinking that knowledge can do more for us than it can.
Often I think we know deep down more than we practice, as you essentially conclude in your post. I have often been guilty in my life of doing what you claim of always trying to add things rather than consider taking something away. More often than not when we find ourselves in the chronic stress situation which I am all too familiar with my guess is going back to basics will do much more than reading some new self help book or trying to do a dissertation about how not to stress.
Are we eating a fairly balanced diet
Are we getting enough good sleep
Do we have things in our life that we gain meaning or purpose by pursuing
Do we have close connections with at least some people in our lives
Do we feel a part of something larger than just our own selfish desires
These simple questions and the honest responses I think will do much more to elucidate a way to less chronic stress than any amount of information about the amygdala or cortisol in my humble opinion, despite how much I appreciate your discussion of these topics which I also find fascinating.
Thank you for a very thorough and interesting read and j look forward to reading more of your content.
At some points I did have to remind myself why I'm writing and researching, but I'm glad I did it.
I think the point you raise centres around locus of control, where in the case of the main character their aim was to learn as much as they can to gain the capability to predict what will happen and how to react. That is why I ensured not to dabble into the risk factors stress can cause us because a lot of the time, more information actually overcomplicates things.
Your point on stripping back to the basics instead of adding new information or reframing knowledge we already have, in order to almost maintain the complexity of the solutions we have created for ourselves is very pertinent. I'm glad you found the post interesting and it was more so an exploration of why things are the way they are; as a way to kind of see through the noise and revert back to how the basics are the primary pillars we should lead with.
Thank you for your in depth reflections! It is always great to have a reminder to stick to the basics.
Very comprehensive
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Success
Wow, that was a marathon read, I found myself with thoughts and comments as I was reading and I should have made notes as the next idea pushes the last one out of mind.
You went deep, and I know you're not done with the subject.
It seems to me like we don't have enough words for stress and having that as a catch all isn't always helpful.
What I term as stress is all in my head, I'm aware there are physical symptoms of being stressed (perhaps I should say chronically stressed) but I'm not self aware enough to have really noticed and remembered those symptoms at the time.
Perhaps a cold or flu bug I picked up could have been avoided if I had not been feeling so stressed in the past.
I think I had a decent understanding of stress before reading this and I definitely knew some of it, although I was reminded of some other elements that had slipped from my mind. Your deep dive was informative, well written and thorough.
Scientifical sounds like a made up word, so much so I googled it, I should have known in an article like this, written by you, it would be an actual word!
It was most definitely a marathon, it took me weeks to put all the research and ideas together.
It's like a lot of people loosely put the label of stress onto certain reactions which can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. As you say with the physical symptoms, we are able to recognise the effects of acute stressors that in turn make us stressed, but it does in fact affect us throughout our lives. Chronic stress can predispose us to the common cold or bug but also increase the risk of lifelong health conditions.
Thank you Mark, it means a lot that you found this post informative! Trust me I've been there; the amount of times I had to search up a word to check its spelling or to setup a face-off with autocorrect (I lose every time) 😂
a really comprehensive overview. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Really appreciate it Debarpan, I'm glad that you enjoyed it 🙌🏾