Stress is a part of our lives. It always has been, always will be.
The only question is how much do we allow stress to run our lives? While I have never had a 100 percent carefree attitude, I don’t think I’m at the other end of the spectrum either where I worry 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
More of a “middle of the road” worrier, I have learned to handle stress in a variety of ways, especially since entering the newspaper profession on a full-time basis many years ago. From the outside, being a newspaper reporter seems like nothing but fun, glamorous even.
Yet, it’s like any other job. There are stress factors involved, even more so than one outside of it could imagine. It’s that way with any profession you aren’t involved with. You never really know what it details until you’ve been on the inside looking out.
One of my favorite ways of dealing with stress is yard work. While at one time I viewed yard work as a necessary evil, I’ve found myself escaping to it more in recent years. From shaping up the lawn to taking care of what I call my “award-winning” rose bush, I spend a good bit of time outside taking in the Georgia spring weather and forgetting about anything stress related.
One project I have been putting off is to clean out the storage room under my carport. It’s been on my mind for some time but I never quite seem to find the time to do it right. I’m looking at taking everything out of it, giving it a good soap and water scrubbing and then putting things back in (after disposing of some of it hopefully.)
In addition to the hours I put into shaping up my yard, I also enjoy reading. Of course, reading is a double-edged sword for me because if I settle into my favorite recliner with book in hand, then it usually means I will fall asleep.
Television has always been a stress reliever for me. From a favorite movie to watching any type of sporting event, I still watch numerous hours of television each week. Nothing beats stress like stretching out on the sofa watching an old football game and drifting away to sleep (the most recent was the 1996 upset by Air Force over Notre Dame.)
Politics used to be a distraction for me from work but things have become so divided in our country I have grown tired of it. Discussing politics with most is like arguing with a brick wall.
It’s pointless and no matter how much you talk about it, no one’s mind is going to be changed. I’ve about put current politics on the backburner, although political history still fascinates and makes for great studying.
On another note, we entered May this past weekend and in addition to this being my favorite month (you can guess why), it also signals the early stages of summer. I know it goes back to my childhood, but summer always seems to have less stress associated with it. Even now as an adult, I look at the calendar in anticipation of summer and the extra joys it brings. From swimming to a trek to the mountains, the summer time frame is always great to cut down on stress and recharge the soul.
Of course, the ultimate stress reliever would be to win the lottery. I don’t buy the argument that it brings too many headaches to be worth it. I’ll gladly deal with whatever headaches having millions of dollars at my disposal would bring.
Until that happens, it’s back to work in the yard or digging out a copy of an old football game I’ve already watched several times. Stress can be defeated, — you just have to get imaginative to do it at times. In the end, life is only as stressful as we allow it to be. It’s something we should all remember more often.
Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
