Doctor Hans Selye, pioneering endocrinologist who is praised to be the father of the modern stress theory, once mentioned “It is not stress that kills us. It is our reaction to it.” This, first of all, induces us to question our general notion that stress is a single or series of negative events that occur to us. Or that it is a behavioural response such as nail biting. However, all these are not exactly termed stress and definitely do not kill us. According to the Klinic Community Health Centre (2009), stress is any situation in which we think our skills are inadequate to manage the demands of that situation. The urban rat race shoves us into such conditions often but there are strategies, both psychological and health-related, that can aid us to cope with it.
Firstly, one of the best health-related strategies that we can employ to cope with stress is pertaining to sleep. The urban rat race emphasizes on productivity, be it academic pressure or workplace results and this can produce extreme stress. The American Psychological Association survey in 2008 discovered that 52% of adults lie awake at night because of high stress levels. In 2009, the Department of Psychology of Saint Louis University and the Clayton Sleep Institute researched on eighty-eight university undergraduates on their sleep patterns – if they attain enough sleep of seven hours or more per night and if that timing is consistent over five consecutive weekdays. Early week (Monday to Thursday) sleep was used to identify late week (Friday) perceived strain. Their conclusion revealed that consistent-sufficient sleepers reported less late week perceived strain. It becomes evident here that one has to assess the quantity of everyday numbers of hours of sleep to cope with stress. In addition, the quality of sleep, in terms of regularity of hitting that adequate number is also equally important. But of course, we must also be strike a balance and not use sleep as a form of escapism and oversleep which has detrimental effects on the body and can lead to more stress instead of eliminating it.
Secondly, exercise is another health-related strategy that we can utilize to cope with urban rat race stress. Exercise increases the production of endorphins, the brain's neurotransmitters which create a feeling of well-being. It also improves one’s mood and gives a form of meditation where concentrated focus on the physical activity leads to energy and optimism and most importantly, busts stress (The Mayo Clinic, 2010). Stress can also be viewed as a scientific concept where exercise has numerous benefits on. Telomeres are DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome which protect chromosome from deterioration. University of California San Francisco and Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s research in 2010 revealed that “chronic stress would be related to short telomere length in sedentary individuals, whereas in those who exercise, stress would not have measurable effects on telomere shortening”. Thus, exercise is an exceptionally efficient way to cope with stress, in ways where we can and cannot feel its salutary effects.
Lastly, psychological strategies such as thought-stopping (Klinic Community Health Centre, 2009) can be applied to cope with the urban rat race. Gandhi once said “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” Suppose one is going to start a report presentation to his boss or is waiting for a commencement of a final year paper. It is normal to have thoughts of nervousness and anxiety but too much of it causes stress levels to escalate and can weaken performance. Thought stopping firstly involves choosing that counter-productive stressful thought, concentrating on it and imaging it to happen. Next, is to suddenly, command oneself to stop and empty one’s mind of that thought. Lastly, is to substitute the thought with positive, assertive statements that are relevant to the situation. This method takes practice and time to master but its benefits are excellent because those stressful thoughts would return less and less readily which means one’s stress levels would also significantly get lower and lower.
In conclusion, unless one accepts responsibility for the role one plays in creating or maintaining it, one’s stress level will remain out of control. If we want to cope with stress, we must be ready to confront and deal with it. Blaming stress on others or outside events or assuming it to be part of our personality is unrewarding. If we are able to patiently integrate the strategies mentioned above, we will be more empowered and positive-minded to conquer the urban rat race.
Reference List
Anderson, C. (2010), The impact of sleep on dealing with daily stressors—a need for controlled laboratory evidence. Commentary on Barber, Munz, Bagsby & Powell (2009) ‘Sleep Consistency and Sufficiency: Are Both Necessary for Less Psychological Strain?’. Stress and Health, 26: 194–197. doi: 10.1002/smi.1301
Barber, L. K., Munz, D. C., Bagsby, P. G. and Powell, E. D. (2010), Sleep consistency and sufficiency: are both necessary for less psychological strain?. Stress and Health, 26: 186–193. doi: 10.1002/smi.1292
Klinic Community Health Centre. (2010). Stress & Stress Management. [Brochure].
Mayo Clinic Staff. 2010, July 23). Exercise and stress: Get moving to combat stress. Mayoclinic. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise-and-stress/SR00036
Puterman E, Lin J, Blackburn E, O'Donovan A, Adler N, et al. (2010) The Power of Exercise: Buffering the Effect of Chronic Stress on Telomere Length. PLoS ONE 5(5): e10837. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010837
Reinier, B. (2011). Stress-free Living: Stress Statistics.Presenceinbusiness.com. Retrieved 23 December 2011, from http://presenceinbusiness.com/2011/08/31/stress-free-living-stress-statistics/
Friday, December 23, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Explain how people’s difference in their definitions of success influence the way they lead their lives.
Abraham Lincoln once said “Always bear in mind that your resolution to success is more important than any other one thing”. No matter what is the definition one might assign to their own individual notions of success, assuming it is universally accepted as moral and good, it is the firm determination to stick by it and see it through that is essential. This determination is the basic drive that motivates us to lead our lives in a particular way to achieve our personal success goals. According to Daniel Midson-Short of the New Zealand Health&Wealth Report (2009), success can be classified into six types. Out of the six, three – the contributor success, the power-hungry success and the Puritan type of success can be used to explain how people’s difference in their definitions of success influence the way they lead their lives.
First of all, the contributor success is adopted by people who want to create a better world for others and future generations in terms of social work or by their careers. The people who undertake this type of success as their personal definition probably see it is a moral responsibility or they just have a special passion for it. Social work can be expanded into volunteerism, charity, counseling and many more. One apt example of a person who gauged her personal success as a contributor through social work was Mother Theresa. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, Mother Theresa had 610 missions in 123 countries with the sole intention of just doing humanitarian work with no profit and advocating for the rights of the poor and helpless. While this kind of success can be linked with the spiritual type of success, where religion guides one to give back to society and not live for this world, it might not be always true as contribution can be non-religious as well. For example, popular talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey started a reality TV series called the “The Big Give” where it just focused on contributor success type contestants who were given a sum of money to perform philanthropist acts and challenges to emerge as the judges-selected, “Best Philanthropist” winner in the end.
While social work or charity seems to be the general view of giving back to society, it doesn’t have to be so. Using one’s own career can be also of the contributor success. Steve Pavlina, a personal developer who changed careers from being a game developer for this reason, (2009) said the “best long-term outlet for making a meaningful contribution to the world is your career.” Most people have a desire to make a positive difference to the world but when that is not being fulfilled through their careers, they feel guilty and thus invest their money or time for worthy causes such as charity on the side. People of the contributor success category would probably rather use their career itself to contribute to the world such as those in the education sector where their work can let them see the contribution they are making. Poet-cum-teacher, Taylor Mali’s lines, “I make a goddamn difference, what about you?” in comparison to a lawyer, in his famous “What Teachers Make” poem succinctly puts the point across.
Secondly, certain people are influenced by the power-hungry kind of success, leading their lives in that direction, illustrated in politics or business. These sorts of people usually have a dominating personality where they want to have a reign or control over something or people. In light of the recent 2011 Libyan Civil War, there can be no better exemplification of such a people-control character but deceased Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. His dictatorship lasted an astonishing estimate of 42 years, an entire generation, from 1969 to 2011. Throughout his reign of terror, he held various titles such as “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya” and “Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya” just to justify his top, ultimate position in the government. He held an iron grip to his regime even though his unpopularity was soaring and finally, “when his own people rose up against him, he responded with brutal repression” (Cordon, 2011) with militiamen and warplanes to attack the demonstrators. Power-hungry success is of course, not constricted to politicians alone but those who actively pursue ambitions to be in managerial or leadership roles in their careers can also fall under this category. Control over things such as businesses can also be an aspect for power-hungry success. By owning lots of business ventures, these people might feel a sense of achievement, power and control that they define as their success. Three times Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is one such businessman whose main investment lies with the Italian media with significant assets in television, newspapers, publishing and cinema. Major ownership in other sectors including finance, banking, insurance, and sport positions him at net wealth of 9 billion according to Forbes Magazine in 2010. Coinciding with the materialistic kind of success too, maybe power-hungry people, experience a lack of control over some personal feature of their lives and thus show their control over something they can.
Thirdly, certain people might define success as the Puritan type of success and allow that to influence them to lead their lives in that way because either they are pressured by their environment to or because they set a standard of personal worth that way. Being pressured by their environment, usually family, to continually prove themselves as successful or worthy of being in such an environment drives such people to constantly check that they are on a certain right track in terms of achievements. Amy Chua, professor at Yale Law School and author of “Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother” is one such parent who believes in the supposed Chinese way of strict upbringing focusing on academic excellence and discipline and undoubtedly, this does produces results, compared to Western methods. Practicing musical instruments even on vacation, being number one in class in all subjects and participating in only in events that earn you medals are some of the tough love strategies employed by her. Those who have been raised in such a family would then be most probably be Puritan type, even if it is not their choice because it has been ingrained into them since young. But there are those Puritan success people who do not have this environmental pressure and adopt this definition out of choice because they set a standard of personal worth this way. Every achievement increases their sense of worthiness, and there is always another goal once the current one is achieved. But of course, this induces the question of when will they finally be satisfied and actually be happy, looking back at all the achievements they have made.
In conclusion, the definition of success is abstract and cannot be simply put into words. It is personal. It is unique. It is individualistic. Everyone cannot be fitted neatly into any of the categories that were mentioned above and are probably a combination of different types. What matters is that we should find one that works for us. Which leads to an interesting question of will our personal definition of success change as we pass through different stages of our lives? Or is it better to keep one to influence us to lead our whole lives?
Reference List
Midson-Short, D. (2009, January 26). Six types of success. health-wealth.co.nz. Retrieved from http://www.health-wealth.co.nz/home/free-articles/six-types-of-success.html
Mother Theresa. (2011, December 16). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Theresa
Oprah’s Big Give. (2011, December 2). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah%27s_Big_Give
Pavlina, S. (2007, July 27). Contributing through your career. Stevepavlina.com. Retrieved from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/contributing-through-your-career/
Mali, T. (2009). Taylor Mali: What Teachers Make. Taylormali.com. Retrieved from http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=13
Muammar Gaddafi. (2011, December 13). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaddafi
Cordon, G. (2011, October 20). Muammar Gaddafi: A 40-year thorn in the West's side. Independent.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/muammar-gaddafi-a-40year-thorn-in-the-wests-side-2373395.html
Silvio Berlusconi. (2011, 13 December). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
Chua, A. (2011). Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Penguin Press. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://www.npr.org/2011/01/11/132833376/tiger-mothers-raising-children-the-chinese-way
First of all, the contributor success is adopted by people who want to create a better world for others and future generations in terms of social work or by their careers. The people who undertake this type of success as their personal definition probably see it is a moral responsibility or they just have a special passion for it. Social work can be expanded into volunteerism, charity, counseling and many more. One apt example of a person who gauged her personal success as a contributor through social work was Mother Theresa. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, Mother Theresa had 610 missions in 123 countries with the sole intention of just doing humanitarian work with no profit and advocating for the rights of the poor and helpless. While this kind of success can be linked with the spiritual type of success, where religion guides one to give back to society and not live for this world, it might not be always true as contribution can be non-religious as well. For example, popular talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey started a reality TV series called the “The Big Give” where it just focused on contributor success type contestants who were given a sum of money to perform philanthropist acts and challenges to emerge as the judges-selected, “Best Philanthropist” winner in the end.
While social work or charity seems to be the general view of giving back to society, it doesn’t have to be so. Using one’s own career can be also of the contributor success. Steve Pavlina, a personal developer who changed careers from being a game developer for this reason, (2009) said the “best long-term outlet for making a meaningful contribution to the world is your career.” Most people have a desire to make a positive difference to the world but when that is not being fulfilled through their careers, they feel guilty and thus invest their money or time for worthy causes such as charity on the side. People of the contributor success category would probably rather use their career itself to contribute to the world such as those in the education sector where their work can let them see the contribution they are making. Poet-cum-teacher, Taylor Mali’s lines, “I make a goddamn difference, what about you?” in comparison to a lawyer, in his famous “What Teachers Make” poem succinctly puts the point across.
Secondly, certain people are influenced by the power-hungry kind of success, leading their lives in that direction, illustrated in politics or business. These sorts of people usually have a dominating personality where they want to have a reign or control over something or people. In light of the recent 2011 Libyan Civil War, there can be no better exemplification of such a people-control character but deceased Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. His dictatorship lasted an astonishing estimate of 42 years, an entire generation, from 1969 to 2011. Throughout his reign of terror, he held various titles such as “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya” and “Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya” just to justify his top, ultimate position in the government. He held an iron grip to his regime even though his unpopularity was soaring and finally, “when his own people rose up against him, he responded with brutal repression” (Cordon, 2011) with militiamen and warplanes to attack the demonstrators. Power-hungry success is of course, not constricted to politicians alone but those who actively pursue ambitions to be in managerial or leadership roles in their careers can also fall under this category. Control over things such as businesses can also be an aspect for power-hungry success. By owning lots of business ventures, these people might feel a sense of achievement, power and control that they define as their success. Three times Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is one such businessman whose main investment lies with the Italian media with significant assets in television, newspapers, publishing and cinema. Major ownership in other sectors including finance, banking, insurance, and sport positions him at net wealth of 9 billion according to Forbes Magazine in 2010. Coinciding with the materialistic kind of success too, maybe power-hungry people, experience a lack of control over some personal feature of their lives and thus show their control over something they can.
Thirdly, certain people might define success as the Puritan type of success and allow that to influence them to lead their lives in that way because either they are pressured by their environment to or because they set a standard of personal worth that way. Being pressured by their environment, usually family, to continually prove themselves as successful or worthy of being in such an environment drives such people to constantly check that they are on a certain right track in terms of achievements. Amy Chua, professor at Yale Law School and author of “Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother” is one such parent who believes in the supposed Chinese way of strict upbringing focusing on academic excellence and discipline and undoubtedly, this does produces results, compared to Western methods. Practicing musical instruments even on vacation, being number one in class in all subjects and participating in only in events that earn you medals are some of the tough love strategies employed by her. Those who have been raised in such a family would then be most probably be Puritan type, even if it is not their choice because it has been ingrained into them since young. But there are those Puritan success people who do not have this environmental pressure and adopt this definition out of choice because they set a standard of personal worth this way. Every achievement increases their sense of worthiness, and there is always another goal once the current one is achieved. But of course, this induces the question of when will they finally be satisfied and actually be happy, looking back at all the achievements they have made.
In conclusion, the definition of success is abstract and cannot be simply put into words. It is personal. It is unique. It is individualistic. Everyone cannot be fitted neatly into any of the categories that were mentioned above and are probably a combination of different types. What matters is that we should find one that works for us. Which leads to an interesting question of will our personal definition of success change as we pass through different stages of our lives? Or is it better to keep one to influence us to lead our whole lives?
Reference List
Midson-Short, D. (2009, January 26). Six types of success. health-wealth.co.nz. Retrieved from http://www.health-wealth.co.nz/home/free-articles/six-types-of-success.html
Mother Theresa. (2011, December 16). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Theresa
Oprah’s Big Give. (2011, December 2). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah%27s_Big_Give
Pavlina, S. (2007, July 27). Contributing through your career. Stevepavlina.com. Retrieved from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/contributing-through-your-career/
Mali, T. (2009). Taylor Mali: What Teachers Make. Taylormali.com. Retrieved from http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=13
Muammar Gaddafi. (2011, December 13). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaddafi
Cordon, G. (2011, October 20). Muammar Gaddafi: A 40-year thorn in the West's side. Independent.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/muammar-gaddafi-a-40year-thorn-in-the-wests-side-2373395.html
Silvio Berlusconi. (2011, 13 December). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
Chua, A. (2011). Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Penguin Press. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://www.npr.org/2011/01/11/132833376/tiger-mothers-raising-children-the-chinese-way
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)