T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
Stress Happens
One more plunge into the stress scale to pick up another insight
into stress:
- Change of financial status (61)
- Spouse begins or ends work (58)
- Change of line of work (51)
- Change in residence (47)
- Change in number of arguments with spouse (46)
- Change in eating habits (29)
- Change in sleeping habits (27)
- Change in recreation (26)
Lose your job or get evicted from your apartment? Highly
stressful. But so is winning the lottery or moving into your dream
home. The one constant here is change—regardless of the nature
of the change. All change is stressful.
Which means, of course, that living is inherently stressful.
Stress is inevitable.
You can’t even buy your way out of stress. Psychologist Ed
Diener’s recent study indicates that higher personal incomes often
bring their own set of stresses.
Little wonder, then, that a recent U.S. News & World Report
cover story announced, “Stressed Out? You’ve got lots of com-
pany. But there are ways to fight back.”
Being Blessedly Stressed
You can’t avoid stress. But you don’t really want to.
Selye and researchers who followed him have learned that the total
absence of stress is no better for you than too much stress. To remove
all stress from your life, you would have to remove all relationships and
all challenges. That probably explains why retirement rates so high on