Common Sources of Stress

Change.
It’s taking place quickly on all fronts- in technology, in family and social patterns, in international relationships. The world is constantly being shaped and reshaped at a pace faster than any of us can comfortably grasp.

Conflict.
Human seems not to know how to relate to each other happily, either on the personal or the international level. So strife between families as well as warfare between competing nations and ideologies make this world a less stable- and more stressful- place to live.

Materialism.
The desire to ”keep with the Joneses” is a basic source of stress. It happens between next- door neighbors and between different nations. A television proclaims, “Too much is never enough.”
Now, two income families are almost a necessity rather than a luxury in many major cities. Ellen Cassedy wrote in a Redbook that “the typical victim of burnout is a woman with children and a job and more things to do than time to do them in (Are you Making Yourself Sick?”, March 1998).

Fears and Worries.
In the world we live in, who can blame you for being concerned about the future? Events that occur halfway around the world can translate into rising food or fuel costs. Feeling out of control of your own life causes a lot of stress.
And stress spawns other problems- among them drug abuse, family breakups, mental illness and tragic accidents. All of these produce more stress. It’s a vicious cycle.

A major source of stress in people’s lives today comes from the refusal to face reality and to accept that the things we think and do cause many of the things that happen to us.

Understanding begins with an admission of our ignorance. As long as we’re convinced that we know the cause of our suffering, evidence to the contrary and without letting go of old explanations, we can’t open ourselves to other possibilities.