stress

Isn't stress supposed to be something to avoid?
Loretta LaRoche
Stress Expert and Author

During the last 20 years, we've been driven to believe that our sense of self should be defined by how many tasks we have performed on any given day.

I never remember my grandparents or my parents having to give a rundown of what they did from the time they got up to the time they went to bed as a precursor to conversation. The average person has been mesmerized into believing that he or she is at the mercy of daily "to do" lists. It often feels as if we have been hypnotized by some alien "stress god."

I see a time somewhere in the future where we might see an edifice somewhat like Stonehenge composed of fax machines, computers, laptops and the like surrounded by a stress cult chanting: "We have so much to do."

The resulting exhaustion from the perception of never-ending tasks is embraced and often venerated.

The following 10-step program will help you become a member of a stress cult:

1. Complain often and loudly about how incredibly stressed you are.

2. Form a global whining group to help you affirm how terrible you feel on any given day, or that you could feel worse in the coming weeks.

3. Desperately try never to have any time for yourself.

4. Make sure everyone knows that the only time you have for yourself is when you go to the bathroom.

5. Never say "no" to anyone else's demands on your time.

6. Don't ask your family to help out. (They may see you as incompetent.)

7. Make sure you eat on the run so you can get a good case of acid reflux - a very "in" disease.

8. Don't sleep more than a few hours a night and make sure you toss and turn a lot so you can get extra-tired and grumpy.

9. Hope that someone or something will eventually release you from your enslavement to your stressed-out life.

10. Keep hoping that you'll have fun someday.

Once you have successfully completed all 10 steps, you can add another layer and become a martyr. Perhaps you can become canonized as the "Sister of Perpetual Responsibility."

I don't think the amount of stress most people experience is going to end soon. However, I do think that every once in a while we get a glimmer of what life is really about. Like when gathering with friends and family to celebrate a holiday or special occasion. You probably had a lot of fun.