Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What does that say about the state of this country ???
One third of Americans say under extreme stress
By Patricia Reaney Wed Oct 24, 4:27 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Worries about work and money are causing one-third of Americans to suffer from extreme stress, driving them to overeat, drink, and smoke.
I think a better understanding of how many in the world are forced to live, with little or no hope, would help many of those in the US have a better perspective on what real stress is.
It's hard to take serious a poll that says that 33% of US citizens are extremely stressed. Either that or we are just way too self absorbed.
America's lust for "stuff" causes more stress than anything. When the ability to acquire and maintain "stuff" becomes impaired, stress goes up. When somebody has to part with "stuff" because it no longer fits into their stretched credit cards, stress goes up.
I've actually found myself much less stressed over the last 5-6 years, mainly because I got tired of thinking about stuff and decided to get rid of a lot of it and quit focusing on obtaining it.
America's lust for "stuff" causes more stress than anything. When the ability to acquire and maintain "stuff" becomes impaired, stress goes up. When somebody has to part with "stuff" because it no longer fits into their stretched credit cards, stress goes up.
I've actually found myself much less stressed over the last 5-6 years, mainly because I got tired of thinking about stuff and decided to get rid of a lot of it and quit focusing on obtaining it.
Priorities determine perception of life.
Absolutely true! I think this plus the general lack of family ties and the way people all live separate lives, generally speaking, leads to the stress. I read somewhere that people in America have fewer and fewer true friends than in earlier generations, and that for like half the people surveyed the only true friend they could point to was their spouse/significant other. That all ties into the rat race. People have less time to develop relationships.
I agree. We need to change our priorities. I recently moved and am trying to make new friends, since my "old" ones are a 6 to 7 hour ride away. Most people don't seem to have time for friends anymore! Most people don't understand why we chose to live in a small house (that is paid for), they think we should buy a "bigger, better" house. Financial independence is where it's at!
I blame some of the right-wing thinking for causing stress. Right wing ideology is focused on individualism. The problem with individualism is sometimes it causes people to loose focus on the community, which is an important support network for dealing with stress and emotional issues. If community ties are weakened, people will face stresses alone and have to resort to drugs or harmful behaviors to deal with them, and/or it will take a toll on a person's physical and mental health.
There are some incredibly poor countries in the world but they at least have community, that's an important asset. Americans in many ways are poor in that sense if you look at it in that perspective, so I think comparing Americans' lives to those in other countries is irrelevent.
Another example is how we are planning, or rather, not planning our cities and suburban developement. Nothing is on a human scale anymore (by human scale, I mean that a person could walk or bicycle around an area to meet most of their needs). Suburban sprawl is isolating on Americans. If you spend your time in a cocoon of a car, you don't rub shoulders with other people and automaticly loose out on alot of human contact and potential for social interactions. You would be shocked to learn the average person in a suburb is much more likely to face depression than somebody even living in an inner city neighborhood. And yet this lifestyle is held up as a model for the nation to pursue as aspiration. This style of developement is being fostered by mega-corporations and their right-wing supports (to be fair, some more communitarian-minded on the right are supportive of traditional urban developement, but on the whole the right-wing in the US is pro-growth, pro-business-at-all-costs).
I blame some of the right-wing thinking for causing stress. Right wing ideology is focused on individualism. The problem with individualism is sometimes it causes people to loose focus on the community, which is an important support network for dealing with stress and emotional issues. If community ties are weakened, people will face stresses alone and have to resort to drugs or harmful behaviors to deal with them, and/or it will take a toll on a person's physical and mental health.
There are some incredibly poor countries in the world but they at least have community, that's an important asset. Americans in many ways are poor in that sense if you look at it in that perspective, so I think comparing Americans' lives to those in other countries is irrelevent.
Another example is how we are planning, or rather, not planning our cities and suburban developement. Nothing is on a human scale anymore (by human scale, I mean that a person could walk or bicycle around an area to meet most of their needs). Suburban sprawl is isolating on Americans. If you spend your time in a cocoon of a car, you don't rub shoulders with other people and automaticly loose out on alot of human contact and potential for social interactions. You would be shocked to learn the average person in a suburb is much more likely to face depression than somebody even living in an inner city neighborhood. And yet this lifestyle is held up as a model for the nation to pursue as aspiration. This style of developement is being fostered by mega-corporations and their right-wing supports (to be fair, some more communitarian-minded on the right are supportive of traditional urban developement, but on the whole the right-wing in the US is pro-growth, pro-business-at-all-costs).
Great post, I wanted to give you positive rep, but it tells I can't give it to you again.
I read a great book a couple of years ago, "bowling alone" about the loss of community in this country. I think having strong social ties makes a HUGE difference!!!
America's lust for "stuff" causes more stress than anything. When the ability to acquire and maintain "stuff" becomes impaired, stress goes up. When somebody has to part with "stuff" because it no longer fits into their stretched credit cards, stress goes up.
I've actually found myself much less stressed over the last 5-6 years, mainly because I got tired of thinking about stuff and decided to get rid of a lot of it and quit focusing on obtaining it.
Priorities determine perception of life.
Great post! I like when folks can get to the core of an issue in few words, gets to the essence of a problem.
I'd like to toss in a modification of what Magnulus stated, I think the evolution of the family unit over the past 50 years has contributed significantly to this stress. The family safety net has significantly been reduced, and not by politicians, by the family members themselves.
what it says is , people might want to get the proper perspective on what is really important in life, simplify their lives, count their blessings, realize that they have got it better than the vast majority of people in the rest of the world, get away from the "me" attitude, and think about what they are really doing with their life! A prayer life helps too! "I want to be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender"~Jackson Brown. Not a very good way to live!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
it adds up
