The word is so tied that ‘I am not stressed’ is an invalid statement!
The word is so tied that ‘I am not stressed’ is an invalid statement!
no Visiting a doctor, therapist or counselor is complete without the word “stress”. Whatever the illness, stress is known to be one of the main causes and our favorite is the whipping boy! We don’t know when stress entered our lives. A few decades ago, civil engineering textbooks contained no stress other than a technical term. Not that tension was absent, we said it differently! “Don’t stress so much!” First there was advice. In this IT era, stress has turned into stress and dominates our lives!
The term is so convoluted that “I have no stress” is an invalid statement! People will stare at you incredulously. “What do you mean you have no stress? Do you take your work home and do you work on weekends?” If your answer is yes, you will be pinned immediately! “All that adds to the tension. You just don’t know!” If you stick to your word, you will sink deeper into the swamp. “In fact, denial of stress is one of the symptoms of stress!” At the end of it, it feels better to admit that you are stressed because there is no escape!
We do not deny the existence of stress. We only question whether we’ve attributed it to more fangs and teeth, making it import far more than it’s worth. Magazines, newspapers and self-help books are full of articles on stress and how it is the “silent killer.” Forget about your IT job, even if you have taken out buffaloes to graze, you will still be under stress. It is as widespread as no one is spared.
Luckily, these stress articles have penetrated us along with tips on dealing with stress. We are so well equipped that we can talk about how to avoid stress – how to resort to yoga, how to squeeze a stress-ball as a stress-buster, how to take breaks from time to time, and look out the window. See how to spend quality time with family and pick up a new hobby.
The next time I go to the doctor, I’ll go armed enough. I will keep a diary with my daily timetable. It will have all the details – from 8 am to 8.30 am: taking a deep breath; 8.30 am to 9 am: Meditation; 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.: Long walks… my entire day would be spent completely de-stressing, like taking vitamin C pills to stave off the common cold. Then perhaps the discussion on the tension will come to an end.
But I’m still worried. I can be told that my fixation with a stress-buster routine is the cause of my stress. Now for the stress-buster we need a stress-buster!
shankar.ccpp@gmail.com