Sunday, December 8, 2013

Tired Yet?

            A land ravaged by towering buildings that is inhabited by weary individuals is called the Land of G. In the Land of G there lived a boy named Sir James Marko Drake the Broken. People believed that Sir James Marko was a very gifted child that he would not turn into one of “them” (the weary inhabitants). He was able to smile even if everyone around him looked as if they have all the problems in the world at their hands. Sir James Marko was able to be productive that it equates to the productivity of a young professional even though he is just eight years and three months old. He was able to construct his own his own building and hospital that was both named after his great grandfather, though all of that changed until the plague infected him. This plague that enveloped and ravaged the Land of G has been a problem since the start of the world. After the nameless plague hit Sir James Marko the Land of G once again lost its glimmer of hope and another weary individual was added to the “collection”.


And in case you did not notice Sir James Marko Drake the Broken now lives up to his name, the Broken. After being infected with the plague Sir James Marko started to be very unproductive. Aside from that the building he managed started to fail due to his unproductiveness and laziness. Sir James Marko became the exact opposite before he was infected by the nameless plague that terrorized the Land of G. So what is this plague that the Land of G has been enduring for an eternity? Will the spark of hope appear again in the Land of G? If not then how will they be able to find a cure to this plague? This nameless plague that terrorizes the Land of G is called stress in our world. Stress as defined by Merriam-Webster online “is a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.” Stress could still be defined in different and simpler ways since it varies, to some extent, from person to person. From the definition provided by Merriam-Webster, stress is nothing near anything positive thus it can be safely assumed that stress has several effects on people but with the right methods it can be lessened.


            Every problem must have its cause and stress is not an exemption from that. So why does stress occur to people? One possible cause of stress is the environment an individual is living in. Imagine living in a very unhealthy environment it can be like the complete opposite of where and how you are living your life. One possible example for this is informal settlers, true that smiles are painted all over their faces when you see them in different television advertisements or when a certain program is happening in their area, though once reality kicks back, their temporary smiles fade since they are back to their very unhealthy environment. The surroundings of informal settlers could be considered very unhealthy, thus making it a cause stress, for various reasons: there is no constant supply of clean water, where they live (ex. under the bridge, near the canals, etc.) are not ideal places where homes should be located. Another cause of stress according to the Health Line Editorial Team (2010) is upsetting events that happened in life. These upsetting or traumatizing events include death of a loved one, physical and mental abuse or those who have been scarred in anyway thinkable.
            Since stress would not be stopped or even lessened in just stating its causes, laying out its effects would be another step to solve this problem that almost every individual encounters. First off are the physical effects of stress, constant feeling of weariness is present, degradation of different body parts and overall deterioration of health. Notice that when an individual sleeps very late, or early in the morning, the person will feel heavy eyes and body. An individual’s body clock may be altered if he continues to sleep very late at night or very early in the morning. Once this happens there would be changes in the overall health of the individual. Aside from that, there is a slow response to things when one is tired. Mental effects would also occur if stress is present. A very evident example of this is the individual’s lack of rational thinking when he is tired or stressed out from something. Once he is stressed out, the overall functions of his body will be unsatisfactory thus the “turnout” of his actions would be bad. Individuals also have the tendency to make irrational and “instinctive” decisions since this would be the only valid basis available for a stressed out individual.
            With all of those problems, there are possible solutions to lessen, if not eliminate, stress. First is to get some sleep. Admit it or not, every human being needs to sleep at one point and it is one “natural way” of relieving stress. Another way of lessening stress is to be with our friends and while with them, let us do all sorts of things. These activities may include but not limited to telling life stories, sharing problems, taking a walk and many more. According to Palo Alto Medical Foundation or PAMF (2013) when a person do activities with their friends, stress is somewhat lessened since the stressed individual is with someone he “likes.” If the individual wishes to be with his family then so be it. While others do this since it is their hobby, for some it is their passion or just plain work but one thing is for sure taking a vacation is a possible way to lessen stress in one’s mind and body. See the sights of unfamiliar places, meet people that are very different, or not, and try to converse with them, enjoy the long and short rides/walks to different landmarks. A stressed individual would surely “lose” his stress once he travels different places that he has been longing to go. If we are not an adventurous type, then we can go back to home setting and sing and dance to our favorite tune as if no one is hearing us. Once we do this, there is surely a moment of bliss, for some utopia, that will occur. Though be careful of your angry neighbors afterwards especially if this was done for more than an hour. Lastly a person can just lie down and go back to sleep or just space out for a while and not think of things that are happening right now; think of an empty room with just with nothing in it.
            There could be countless ways on how stress occurs and how it could be lessened. This is because it varies, to some degree, from every individual. The conventional ways that are presented to us by instructors, life coaches, psychologists and what not could be our gateway to lessen stress but if we only stick to those methods then surely stress “will find its way back” and repeat the grueling process and experience again. Sadly, there is no way to eliminate stress completely from a person’s system with the countless ways to fight it then slowing the “process”, the occurrence of stress, is a better option than doing nothing about it. Besides if stress is truly eliminated from a person’s system, another form could take over its place or stress might just find its way back to the said system.

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