Stress Addiction

Every time I give a presentation on stress management, I hear something akin to, "I don't have time to manage my stress." For some reason this reminds me of, "I don't have a drinking problem because I can stop whenever I want." This makes me wonder if as a society, we're addicted to our own adrenaline. I wouldn't be surprised.

Even though stress is killing us, being stressed seems to be an acceptable way of life. Busy-ness seems to be raised to the level of a virtue and relaxation is seen as a sin, a waste of time and something to feel guilty about. Oh, and it starts young. I get weary just hearing how parents run their kids to soccer, basketball, cheerleading, karate, and piano every night of the week. What ever happened to letting kids play amongst themselves and oh...use their imaginations? Geez, I must be getting old, because I was about to say, "that was good enough in my day!" And what about the poor stressed out parents who are chauffering their kids everywhere?

Here's my solution to being addicted to stress. I call it the "Sinatra Mantra." I think life should alternate like so: "Do, be, do, be, do." I think we need to be able to both "be" and "do," but in moderation. A certain amount of stress is energizing, but beyond a certain point, it'll cut you off at the knees.

About 15 years ago now, I got to live out a dream to go meditate on a mountain top in California for 5 days with Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Whereever You Go, There You Are. Nice man. At the time he ran a Stress Management Program in Massachusetts using Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga. He was featured in a PBS special with Bill Moyers. I still quote him saying on that special that "Pain happens; but suffering is optional."

The benefits of his program are well documented, but the funny thing is that to get into his program you had to either be damned near dead, such that the doctors had given up on you, or in intense chronic pain that they could not treat. Is that what it takes to get us to finally slow down and manage our stress? My goodness, I hope not!

What's your idea of a low stress lifestyle? Post your comment here and get the party started!

Annette Vaillancourt, Ph.D. - Corporate Trainer and Motivational Speaker
EnterTraining Seminars: "We Learn You Good!"
Peak Performance, Stress in the Workplace, Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills
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