I originally started writing this column about how I always get sick when my body and mind go into stress overload and how invariably it always seems to happen around the holidays. The first and worst time I remember this happening was when I was in my early 20’s and it was the week before Thanksgiving. I was all stressed out about my first real job, my first real relationship, and my first real apartment. At that time I was also smoking so what started out as a cold ended up being 2 weeks in the hospital with pneumonia. There’s nothing quite like turkey dinner on a plastic tray with a side of “jello” and a swig of codeine cough medicine.
So anyway that’s how I handle (or mishandle) stress, I let it build up until my immune system weakens and then wham, I’m sick for a week. Everyone copes with stress differently and that’s what I want to write about but first let’s talk about “Stressember”.
Stressember is the 30 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and it all starts with the ominous sounding “Black Friday”. I don’t really get stressed about shopping because I don’t hardly do any for Christmas, for me it’s about the Birthdays. You see I’m surrounded by December babies, starting 2 weeks before Christmas I have birthdays for my Mother-in-law, my twin siblings, my deceased Father-in-law, and my wife Diane. And if that wasn’t enough my sister who was murdered has the same birthday as my wife, so Diane is always trying to keep it low key so as not to upset my Mother.
Part of the stress I feel also comes from the constant bombardment of holiday music and having to answer the holiday small talk questions from everyone you run into. “Are you ready for Christmas?”, “Got all your shopping done?”, “Are you going anywhere?”. The reality is I’m not a religious person so I don’t get into the spiritual aspect of the holidays, I’m not much of a consumerist so I don’t need or want to give any more stuff, I’m not that big on socializing so I don’t care about Christmas parties. I guess in short all I can say is “Bah Humbug”, but unlike Ebenezer Scrooge I don’t begrudge anyone that wants to get into the holiday spirit. If putting up lights and a tree, or fighting the crowds to buy that perfect gift, or even listening to the same songs over and over, if all that makes you happy then more power to you. Because ultimately that’s what the holidays are all about, just being happy for a little while and forgetting about all the troubles in the world.
OK, so the troubles of the world bring me back to my original column about stress. My stress about the holidays, work, money, and mortgage, how does that compare to the stress of someone living with the constant gunfire of war and not knowing when or how it might end. That’s how a lot of people in the world live today, whether civilians or military in a war zone it has got to be a lot of stress. Donald K. Sanders often writes in the Express about his time in Vietnam and about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While reading one of his emotional columns I thought to myself, hey I’ve got PTSD as well. Not the Post Traumatic kind but something different, I’ve got Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In other words I’m always stressing about something terrible that hasn’t happened yet but just might. Oh I don’t know, how about I’m pretty sure I’m going to die and everyone I know and love is eventually going to die as well.
OK, before you get all stressed about me funning on PTSD, I know it’s real and I know it’s serious. My point is that worrying and stressing about the future can sometimes be just as debilitating as stressing about something that’s already happened. I wonder about all those people living in war zones and how do they cope? How would I deal with it if I already get sick from just my non life threatening worries? What about our bigger worries? Man made: over population, global warming, nuclear bombs or the depletion of our natural resources. Natural: earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. Bad people: terrorists, politicians, and Wall Street bankers. Disease: bird flu, swine flu or the Andromeda Strain. Crazy stuff: asteroids hitting earth, aliens invading, or what about the rapture.
Maybe it’s because I’m older and not so naive. Or maybe it’s the constant bombardment of negativity from the mass media. Or maybe it’s just my pessimistic personality. Or maybe I’m just worrying for nothing (but that’s a whole other thing to worry about). All I know is that there is so much to worry about and so little time, no wonder I’m stressed.
To view the column in it's original form go to page 13 of the following link. Winters Express 12/22/2011
No comments:
Post a Comment