The Cult Of Stress

We have all seen television images of cult members over the years. They are usually seen wearing matching clothes and hiding from t.v. news cameras as they dash for cover. Cult members seem weird, brainwashed, even dumb, but aren’t we all cult members in a way?

What I’m suggesting is that we all, to some extent, follow the pattern of life set forth by society. And in any industrialized nation this pattern is beset with stress of all kind. Work stress, school stress, financial stress, marital stress, so goes the pattern.

Clearly we as a civilization should not regress into the stone age but there has to be a better way.  Or put another way, there has to be a better way to manage and traverse such a state of being. Let’s look at some possible options.

Option 1: Do nothing

At first glance this seems like a very awesome choice but a closer examination will reveal how bad this could suck. Day time t.v., obesity, social and intellectual stagnation, and lack of goals, as they would be meaningless. This does not sound like fun.

Option 2: Stay busy all the time

This option is the anti-well being recipe from hell. Staying busy all the time is really the disease we mostly all have. Its part of the stress cult directive to keep your nose to the grind stone and ignore flowers and such. Staying ultra busy always brings a sense of burnout, fatigue, and even apathy. While you jump from one task to the next you simply miss out on a good chunk of what it should mean to live well.

Option 3: The Balancing Act

We all have to work because that’s just how the universe intended it, apparently. However, working hard has to be balanced with some form of pleasure or leisure time. This is actually very hard to do for industrialized people programmed to work like oxen.

However forcing this peace time on yourself will make you feel less like a rat and more like a person. So find something you like to do and make time for it. Anxiety and stress can weigh you down no matter what you do but you should make every effort to lighten the load and breath easy from time to time.

Its bad enough that we all have to travel in our small metal boxes in what looks like a herd of mechanical cows. Then we have to slumber into some building that we’d rather not enter. And then, as if you needed more cherries, a big side dish of people telling you what to do.

Do what you like to do as often as your significant other, kids, boss, family, and friends will let you get away with. It is a challenge to live, and a bigger challenge to live well, but find a way.

I live in the cult of stress like you do, so I know what it’s like. But I consistently find a way to partake in my little pleasures. Like this blog for instance, almost eveyone I know personally cares nothing for it. They don’t know that I write this much, nor do they take note of the content. But that’s o.k., because this is the one thing I do that brings me peace of mind and a sincere sense of satisfaction. So I’ll keep doing it as long as time and money will allow. I have to because I don’t want to be a member of this cult anymore.