Stress

Stress is the strain that occurs when resources are used beyond what’s comfortable. Often this pressure is perceived to be harmful to one’s vital interests. Stress is any change that taxes the entity’s resources. This is usually felt as some kind of suffering. Fear always causes at least some stress. How much stress an individual experiences has a lot to do with their psychological and physiological make up. While we each have a natural level of stress tolerance, humans can supplement their ability to operate under stress through narrative.

Stress can be a hard to control killer that sneaks up on individuals, organizations, and nations, in a way that is difficult to defend against. Sometimes the end is not noticed until it is too late.

As many of my followers and fans know, I used to go to Taiwan every year to observe the wild and feral dogs. Dogs can be a very good model for studying social behavior and survival strategies. On one of my trips to Taiwan I saw a Doberman Pinscher who was obviously new to life on the streets. The extreme reactions from this former pet made it overreact to the slightest threat. Because of this dog’s low stress threshold it had a hard time fulfilling its basic needs, such as finding and keeping food. Or even finding a place to rest. After a few days of being run ragged by real and imagined threats it was in very bad shape. Its condition was far worse off than not eating alone would cause. Then one day it disappeared. I hope it found its way back home, but I suspect it met an early demise. The fearful Doberman Pinscher suffered because its mental resources were taxed beyond a certain sustainable level.

One lesson we can learn from this is don’t let imagined threats compromise your well being and health. If you can safely shelter in place without outside contact, for the time being you are most likely safe.

When under stress we often display stress relieving behavior.

Many people cope with stress by participating in unhealthy activities. Some of these are displacement eating, and/or increasing their use of alcohol or drugs. Others go into a state of depression and despair. Sometimes depression is caused by a lack of reinforcement. At other times it’s because of prolonged periods of adversity. Covid-19 has brought an abrupt halt to many of the reinforcing events in life. It has also caused a great deal of uncertainty and misfortune.

To work through the emotional strain of isolation we need to find a healthy way to reduce the stress.

Some activities that may be useful are exercise or reading a book. Reading a book will often give far more insight into a subject than reading several online articles. Some of us who are a little on the messy side have found we now have time and a strange incentive to do some house cleaning. I am usually so busy working and trying to start a business that I have little time for anything else. I have done more cleaning up in two weeks than in two years.

I find Theodore Roosevelt’s way of dealing with stress particularly effective, and that is to immerse oneself in a project.

I have several friends who also use this as a coping strategy. While it helps relieve stress, it also allows us to work at developing something useful. Again, I think at this time in history we should be looking for ways we can be useful to society, even while self isolating.

By working on a challenging project it’s as if you are solving a riddle asked by a sphinx. When solving the mythic riddle you are less likely to worry about the bad news on TV or social media.

It is best if we can learn techniques and strategies for coping with stress in our own lives and those of people we know. Because, even if stress does not cause death directly, it can cause big problems.

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Thresholds to Fear and Stress