I want to begin this entry by acknowledging that I hadn’t realized how long it had been since my last post, so my apologies to those of you who have looked at this page and haven’t seen anything new in a long time.
A brief explanation for the title of this post: it certainly seems to me that most people I talk to, both in and outside of my office, are feeling stress - a lot of stress - most of the time. While each of us may have more or less stress from greater or fewer sources, based on our own particular constellation of factors that make us, us, it does appear that the barometric level for a general malaise, or angst, seems to have increased across the general population. In as much as there are many obvious reasons for this rising level - too much work (or not enough), too little downtime, too much uncertainty, too much monotony, financial pressures, school demands, commuting, climate change and so on, the question I always face is ‘what can be done about this?’ Is this just the ‘new normal’, to use an over-used phrase? As somewhat of a counter-cultural exposition on this trend, I am reminded of a relatively recent book that bears some relevance on this point: Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker. In his lengthy survey, he addresses a wide range of social, economic and political issues and, with the aid of an enormous volume of data, he makes the compelling argument that while there are most certainly some worrisome and potentially disastrous challenges facing the planet - namely climate change - by most indices, the world is better now than at any other time in recorded history. Pick the issue, and there is empirical data to back this up. I should add that Pinker is a psychologist, and wrote this at least in part to push back at the generally negative picture we are presented in the media each time we go on our devices (and that is a lot of the time by the way), which I will come back to shortly. Small wonder most teens and an increasing number of children are manifesting anxiety symptoms. It looks very, very scary and bleak out there - which reminds me of a little story I sometimes tell my clients.
Imagine 200,000 years ago, our early Homo Sapien ancestor, sitting in his or her cave, thinking of making a trek out from the relative safety of his shelter to the local watering hole. He’s made that trip enough times to know that there are many other animals far bigger and stronger who see him as lunch. He has likely witnessed this many times in his short life - siblings, parents, maybe even children of his own, being attacked and killed by predators more dangerous than him. So he worries about this every time he needs water. Talk about an existential crisis! Does he risk leaving the cave to drink, or risk staying and dying of thirst? When is a better or worse time to go? And so on. He has, unlike his pre-sapien relatives, the added benefit of a well-developed pre-frontal cortex (PFC), but he also shares the limbic and reptilian brains of most of what could kill him. What that means is that fear -debilitating fear - could win the debate of staying or going. The more he thinks of what might be outside the cave, the more his fear grows. But, his PFC could help him think it through, and decide - based on past experience (when do most predators hunt?) and current data (what does he actually hear, see, smell etc?) - when and how to leave his refuge and venture out.
Back to the future: every day, we are presented with an overwhelming deluge of information that we were never built to sort through in such a tsunami-like way. Not only do we have what is immediately in front of us to deal with (like the cave-dweller) but we are bombarded with information from around the world and in the cosmos (the threat of an asteroid crashing to earth, an extremely low-risk event by the way), delivered to our smartphones, with little or no context. Small wonder we struggle to get out of bed in the morning, or lie there for hours at night unable to settle.
So what can we do?
Well, for starters, unplug. Yes I know, everyone says this, and yes, easier said than done. But when was the last time you tried not looking at your phone, tablet, TV, radio etc? I’m not a neuroscientist, but I can tell you that our brains and bodies - as amazing as they are - do not do well with constant, multilateral streaming. As some people have aptly called it, our bandwidth, maxes out. And what happens then? it eventually leads to the fight/flight/freeze response. But more often, at a sub-crisis threshold, it manifests in a myriad of stress-related symptoms - anxiety, sleep disturbances, agitation, procrastination, physical symptoms such as headaches, gastro-intestinal issues, fatigue, inattention, lack of focus, diminished enjoyment in activities and so on. Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
Ask yourself this question: when was the last time I ‘just’ listened to music? Or ‘just’ walked, or ate my lunch, or had a conversation with someone in person, or read a book, or spent time in nature without your phone? Maybe with the holidays upon us, this is the opportunity we need to slow down and not multi-task, even if for a little while. Sound boring? Good. We’re far too habituated to being over-stimulated and hyped-up on a double-shot espresso blend of cortisol ( a stress hormone) and adrenaline. And while it is certainly possible that your anxiety may increase, it is likely because you’re taking the lid off a well-shaken bottle. This too will pass, as you settle into one pleasurable or engaging activity. So slow down, be still or go for a walk. The actual choice is less important than making a conscious effort to do less at once.
Season’s greetings.