a slight bit of breathlessness,
a barely discernible tightening of the chest,
plus a touch of tunnel vision -
That's my state after fifteen minutes spent writing an e-mail to all those who might know whether or not I need to rearrange my morning to show up at a court date for a young friend I look out for. (And I'm actually in pretty good shape!)
I will be surprised if I receive any useful information as a result of my e-mail. I probably won't even get a response.
Add to that the constant flux of the many performance and creative projects in which a college music professor is enlisted, and the ongoing efforts to help students learn whether or not they are all ready to, and I also need to list grades on MyFire.
Stress!
I actually deal with it pretty well, but it's not just my problem.
I recently watched an excellent documentary that explains a lot and warns of even more. I recommend multiple viewings since its message is counter-cultural and of dire significance.
http://www.pbs.org/programs/killer-stress/
It turns out that our bodies frequently continue to prepare for life and death crises even when the stimulus is really just an internal psychological concern. The heart reorients to supply blood for fight or flight, blood pressure goes up, etc., not because we're being chased by a predator but because we have to speak in public!
Good stress helps us rise to a challenge. Mismatched stress paralyzes, impairs, and chips away at longevity.
Who are the most badly stressed? Those who are on the lower levels of a hierarchy they care about - those who feel they have no voice and few channels for expressing power positively. No wonder the powerless become subversive or just disengage. The instinct for self-preservation demands it.
What reduces this type of stress? A sense of autonomy and connectivity as well as collegial styles from those at the top.
Stressed people age remarkably faster. Stressed people's bodies put on weight in a way that contributes specifically to heart disease. And a great many things happen internally that spell disaster in the long-run for the chronically stressed individual.
On this Sunday, I confess feeling a little resentment toward those who cause me stress, but I am reminded that, in general, "they know not what they do." I desire to know the difference between working something out and stressing out. And I want to limit the bad stress my students experience in the educational process with me. So often, students help my stress with good attitudes and kind words.
What contributes to our stressful lifestyles? Here's some of what I think.
1. The way we have allowed technology to take over our time, and our internal functioning, and our relationships! The society into which I was born was peopled by professional folk and others who set about life in a reposeful and balanced fashion and were not inundated by unfiltered information and messages. There was a time in the day when the mail arrived and the letters were written. A limited number of folks used your phone number, and it was usually of some importance when they did.
Today, the computer sits on my desk alluringly suggesting that someone may be responding to me or reaching out at any moment. My hopefulness for connection through that machine stays nervously engaged even when I am supposedly concentrating. Those born into this world have known no other way, so their mild ADD seems normal to them.
In today's professional world, instant response is the name of the game. E-mail waltzed in and took over before we had a plan for it or knew we should resist it. And so we become impatient if our document isn't passed around and edited by everybody before brunch, and we think that's a normal pace. We add stress to ourselves (and animosity between ourselves) when it doesn't happen that way.
I bet some of the best professionals limit their computer time when possible so they might set their whole persons to activities that build legacies and civilization.
Many good tips about slaying the e-mail monster can be found here: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/07/17/email-tips/
2. In college work, the ever-expanding layers of "assessment" fill up time and take away energy from traditional endeavors of scholars and teachers. I know it's the wave of today, and maybe of the future, but it wasn't the wave of twenty years ago or of the preceding thousands of years. And it's the role of educators to mention such things. Feel free to provide your own rant at this point.
3. Our society's celebration of the super-human who multi-tasks and keeps adding tasks and never says "that's asking too much of one person" is another contributor to the problem. Just as we don't do much to celebrate peacemakers, we also don't take out time to remember those who contributed something important to our world by moving at a deliberate pace and being fair to everyone in their lives. We need to be aware of other ways of being, and we might just need to push back while we can still function pretty well.
I'm yet to offer any solutions. I'm mostly sounding an alarm in my little community.
But here's what I know and keep rediscovering. Practicing sabbath keeps a bit of the better, older way alive for us. It slows the pace and makes room for some quiet life. Not only is it a time to stop working, but it might also be a time to stop thinking about working.
What to do with that silence? Take time to observe nature. Listen to fine music. Let the shapes of these things speak to you. And while you're at it, stop talking to yourself. Develop a bit of discipline for relaxation so as to stop the obsessive twittering of your mind about the moment or what to do with the next one.
I'm going to do that right now.
If you don't have access to a lovely natural place today, here's a photo of my friend Rev. Ricky's property back in North Carolina for your own relaxed e-pond gazing. Click on the image for a larger, more gaze-friendly version.
