Pressure And Thus Stress!

But its not this obvious in real life, and that's part of the problem.


We receive pressure from various areas of our lives, I suppose one could say we have adapted to being able to handle pressure, which is on a certain level, quite well. I am not one of those people however. From experience I have learned that I react pretty horribly and obviously to pressure thrust upon me. Then again, I think its a tad bit incorrect for me to say I'm rare in reacting negatively to pressure in the form of stress because many people do. The only difference is that most people are better at hiding it and burying it away, living with stress on an everyday basis.

I think the thriving mental states for pressure to succeed is where a person has lost all sense of perspective. They're just focusing on this illusion called pressure (and that's all it is) and have put all their attention on it and its demands. They don't realize that their is a broader picture and on the scale of life the pressure they're feeling won't last forever or that the area in which they're feeling stressed in is not as important as they think. Stress, I feel, is also derived from illogical thinking. One feels overwhelmed and not only loses perspective, but the ability to look at the situation rationally. If you sat down after reading this and thought of one thing in your life which stresses you out then thought about it logically. Are you blowing the situation out of proportion? What will really happen if you don't succeed in whatever you're feeling pressurized to accomplish? If you think more objectively when it comes to pressure, stress will not be as quick to settle in.

I mentioned that pressure was just an illusion, a figment of your imagination, a creation of the mind. This is true. If you think about it, you choose to feel the pressure and as a result become stressed. Contrary to popular belief, no one can make you feel those things. You may question this and say that if someone keeps attempting to make you smoke a cigarette that's pressure, surely? However it is you who processed that as pressure, you took on a weight for their demand and turned it negative, and as a result you became stressed and anxious about what to do and how to react. I know state exams are coming up shortly in Ireland and students are probably under a whole lot of academic pressure to do well and get good results. I was there last year so I know the pressure and stress involved, more over I now know how stupid I was to allow myself to feel that way. Exams are a classic example of pressure. Most students slide into the mindsets of losing perspective and not thinking rationally when it comes to grades and achieving good ones. Other things attribute to the huge amount of pressure felt as well such as lack of sleep, maybe poor eating habits, and generally not taking the best care of yourself physically. Certain teachers, the encouragement of competitiveness and the education system as a whole doesn't help either! Ignoring these unfortunate and hopefully-will-be-changed-in-the-future facts, the message I would like to give all stressed out youths with their heads full of books, is that exams are not only not the be all and end all, they're a lot less then that again. I'm not saying screw school or stop studying, what I'm saying is be more calm about exams and make sure you rank their importance to a rational level in your mind. Do not say that you will pull an all nighter or study 14 chapters in one morning. Unless you are a robot you will fail. Trust me, you don't think I've done it before? Most importantly take care of yourself and don't let school become your life and affect you physically or in any way negatively. Still make time for taking care of your skin, eating well etc. Keep things up outside of school or you'll, like I said, lose all perspective of the outside world. There is life after exams, and a great one to be had regardless of the results!

"Worry is the deposit for a problem"

Pressure and thus stress can also come in quick bursts at random moments throughout your day. You might be given a task at work to be done in 10 minutes, a pop quiz at school or come across a medical emergency on the street where you have to think fast. Sitting down and connecting with the logic in you might not always be possible at these times but panicking isn't the answer. Your general mood and disposition before you stumble on an obstacle is important. If you're a natural worrier (hello Mom's of the world) then try and work on being more relaxed on a day to day basis, see the funny and light- hearted side of life. Laugh at problems, like comedians do so well. Who doesn't love laughing? Having a more positive attitude and an all round calm and happy outlook on life makes unexpected events easier to deal with. Always look on the bright side because there is no positives to looking on the dark side.

The other type of pressure I'm going to address is peer pressure. Though often assosciated with, it is not limited to teenagers. All groups in society are susceptible to force from those around them at some point and I guess because we're stereotyped under not knowing fully who we are yet and therefore being at a self- conscious point of this adventure its counted as something we must tackle everyday. And a lot do. There's pressure on what to wear to not look like a "nun" but not like a slut either, to smoke, to drink, to have sex, to keep quiet instead of speaking out, to not say something that's weird, to be skinny, etc, etc, etc. And like I said earlier, if you feel like a "victim" to this pressure, you have the ability to not be. You have the capability to unload the pressure and do your own thing. Confidence and bravery is required but also perspective. These people are not god? Even more so, their judgements are not important at all. It can have no affect on you unless you  let them. You have a lot more power than you know. Follow your honest convictions because the guy you like now and the friends who pressurise you won't be there when you're addicted to worsening your black lung, when you're wasted and feel vulnerable, when you're pregnant or have gotten someone pregnant, when you've overdosed or driven under the influence and are dead. Will they? What's more important? Your happiness and your life or their fleeting grins of satisfaction derived from their own unhappiness? Its your choice not mine.

To finish, I'd like to leave asking for all who read this to actually think about whether they're stressed because its not always obvious like in the picture above. Sometime it can be tense shoulders, the pitch of your voice or unexpected reactions to situations. Its really important to identify when you're feeling stressed because it builds up unbeknownst to you and impedes your life indirectly. Essentially lets abandon ship and become hippies.
Love,
Rachel =)