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Is stress inflicted on you — or created by you?

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Is stress inflicted on you — or created by you?

Is stress inflicted on youWe have stuffed our lives with a lot of material wealth but in the futile pursuit of creature comforts

With timeless wisdom, we can manage to convert stress into positive energy that can bring us a sense of greater inner fulfillment and peace of mind.

By Nazarul Islam

One reason why so many people in our society are miserable, sick, and highly stressed is because of an unhealthy attachment to things they have no control over. We all have problems. Or rather, everyone has at least one thing that they regard as a problem.

We continue to live in a fast paced, work oriented society where we have to confront many trials and tribulations that this highly competitive goal oriented life hurls at us. Consequently, we often become easy prey to many physiological and psychological ailments.

Undoubtedly, one of the most debilitating psychological ailments is stress- which, if not handled carefully, becomes quite insidious and inimical to our holistic wellbeing. Like vermin, it slowly eats into our vitals and renders us fully hollow inside.

English poet T S Eliot pertinently said that we are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men. Undoubtedly, we have stuffed our lives with a lot of material wealth but in the futile pursuit of creature comforts, we get completely stressed out and eventually reach the end of our tether.

Therefore, it is the dire need of the hour to understand stress and cultivate the art of taking the bull of it by its horns. With timeless wisdom, we can manage to convert stress into positive energy that can bring us a sense of greater inner fulfillment and peace of mind.

And the same phenomena of stress that pushes us into the bottomless pit of unbearable anxiety and despair also carry the potential to enhance the quality of our life.

Stress can both mar us and make us. If we take the example of an athlete, we come to know that an athlete is capable of growing his speed and strength by enduring a tremendous amount of stress only. When in a gym, a bodybuilder takes to his rigorous exercise regime, the greater the resistance, the stronger he becomes.

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Also read: Self-inflicted Stress

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However, if he does not balance the weight properly, the stress of weight can give him injury also. In a similar way, if managed meticulously, examination stress can give a big boost to the pupils and they can come out with flying colors.

The most precious diamond was once just coal in its key components but with the wisdom of nature, it got transformed into a valuable jewel under extreme pressure. And gold which is called the king of all metals has to bear the heat of burning flames to attain this pride of place.

And now you can see the relationship between pride and stress. Pride convinces us that we are stronger and more capable than we actually are. Pride convinces us that we must do and be more than we are able. And when we try, we find ourselves feeling “thin, sort of stretched . . . like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.” (The Fellowship of the Ring) We begin to fall apart physically, emotionally, and spiritually for the simple reason that we do not exist as we were meant to exist.

Therefore, it is our perspective that makes all the difference. Most of us feel isolated and paranoid during stressful times. We feel alone in the wilderness. When you’re stressed, you eat ice cream, cake, chocolate and sweets.

Why? Because stressed spelled backwards is desserts.

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About the Author

Nazarul IslamThe Bengal-born writer Nazarul Islam is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America. He is author of a recently published book ‘Chasing Hope’ – a compilation of his 119 articles.