Why is our generation so stressed out???

[Mom-ninja.]

I don't think we have more stress. Mostly it's different stress.

 

I agree that lack of physical labor plays a huge roll.

 

 

As for how to manage stress? Well, I'm set up with an appointment to learn how to do just that. I look forward to it.

[BeckyFL]

What about just being overly busy? As I was lying here reading this, I had to take a deep cleansing breath. lol

Honestly, I was flying through FB posts, new money saving ideas, slick deals and skimming over new posts here. Why am I in such a hurry constantly with a million things to do? Maybe a conscious deep breath and the resolve to enjoy each thing I have to do today, focusing on ONE thing at a time, will slow me down enough to make me calm. Ahhh...... breathe in..... breathe out. :)

[cathmom]

Over the last 10 years that I've been on the Internet, I've had to come up with some rules to protect myself from the onslaught of negative information. One of the rules is that I do not read threads or info about stuff that happens to people that I don't "know." So, if something terrible happens to someone who is a regular poster on here, I read about it, I pray for them, and I am concerned. If someone posts about a relative's or friend's problem, I don't. I cannot pray for everyone's specific situation, and my nervous system cannot take the repeated negative information.

[Carol in Cal.]

I think that a factor might be the television news.

 

If it bleeds, it leads. That means that stressors pile on stressors throughout the half hour or hour that it lasts...wars, crimes, fires, bombings, terrorism, economic worries--when is the news ever good? And even when it's good, isn't it usually good in a stressful (good stress--things are changing, though) way?

 

I can't imagine any previous time in history where people heard so much stressful information every single day. This creates the illusion of hardship, not real hardship, but from a stress standpoint I think that it would be significant.

[HRAAB]

I don't know that we have anymore stress than other generations did, just different. My parents were both school aged during the depression and adults during WWII. They had stress. I remember some of the stories my grandmother told me about her life - she was born in 1888. One time when their father had to leave there was a huge blizzard, and their mother, who was sick, told the children what to do with her body if died. It was just what life was. The one thing I see as very different is information/news overload and perhaps a feeling we're losing control. Maybe older generations were more used to knowing they weren't in control (weather ruining crops, blizzards, disease).

 

I do think in many ways we've turned into a spoiled society full of whiners and complainers. Somebody mentioned TV reality shows: if that's reality, we're in bigger trouble than I thought. I want my children to be strong adults, ready to face up to their duties, and not sit around complaining about how life isn't fair. I actually had a good friend tell me she thought we (dh and me) were too tough on our girls. I mentioned it to dh and he just laughed. Compared to his upbringing, he thinks our girls have it pretty good. My kids laughed at it, too. They still like us. ;) Maybe it's because we were raised by that older generation. I don't know. I want my children prepared for life, and sometimes life is h*ll. I want them ready to face it head on and not be looking for someone to bail them out.

 

Stress is part of life. None of us get a 'stress free' life - just part of the human condition.

[tricia]

We're just spoiled. That's all. And when things don't go our way we stress.

Edited December 4, 2010 by tricia

[Kim in Appalachia]

I think older generations were just as stressed but lacked the time to express it. Because of their circumstances and culture the stress was funneled inward. Just looking back at my family and my dh's, the grandparents often behaved in a way that would now be considered depressed, and so did the great-grandparents. They were stressed but didn't whine about it, but they did take it out on others.

 

At present time we have the time and the means (especially with the internet) to express our stress and to feed our stress.

[Sputterduck]

Previously, stress related illnesses weren't really diagnosed as stress related.

 

Also, there was a big emphasis on just dealing with it and much less focus on the emotional impact of stress.

 

You just dealt with life and if you got sick you pushed through it. There was no other choice, unless you were wealthy.

[Danestress]

I'm not sure. I think people were pretty stressed in the past.