Stress and White Noise

[palani]

Follow along. If you are entirely stress free any event that happens results in stress. Your perception level actually becomes hyper to as little as an ant crossing your path. This is similar to living in a noise free environment. The slightest drip from a faucet is enough to drive you insane. You don't want to be entirely stress free. You do better with a background level of stress. In sound engineering this is accomplished by a white noise generator. It is a background level so that you don't perceive every little noise that happens.

Determining how to achieve a background level of stress should be considered an art form. Too high a level and you will not respond to an incoming meteorite, a nuke attack or a great white shark swimming with you. Too low a stress level and something as trivial as a presidential election becomes traumatic.

How do you determine your stress levels are out of whack? For starters you might find yourself willing to take on the IRS in a dispute. You might take up skydiving or pilot a hot air balloon around the world. You might talk into a gay bar with your girlfriend and attempt to convert the inhabitants. You might even look forward to posts from 7th_strumpet. These are all cures for low levels of stress.

If you are in an environment of high stress you tend to look forward to mowing grass or fixing the roof. Or you might purchase gold or silver.

[Joshua01]

Now i'm REALLY stressed![(:)]
Follow along. If you are entirely stress free any event that happens results in stress. Your perception level actually becomes hyper to as little as an ant crossing your path. This is similar to living in a noise free environment. The slightest drip from a faucet is enough to drive you insane. You don't want to be entirely stress free. You do better with a background level of stress. In sound engineering this is accomplished by a white noise generator. It is a background level so that you don't perceive every little noise that happens.

Determining how to achieve a background level of stress should be considered an art form. Too high a level and you will not respond to an incoming meteorite, a nuke attack or a great white shark swimming with you. Too low a stress level and something as trivial as a presidential election becomes traumatic.

How do you determine your stress levels are out of whack? For starters you might find yourself willing to take on the IRS in a dispute. You might take up skydiving or pilot a hot air balloon around the world. You might talk into a gay bar with your girlfriend and attempt to convert the inhabitants. You might even look forward to posts from 7th_strumpet. These are all cures for low levels of stress.

If you are in an environment of high stress you tend to look forward to mowing grass or fixing the roof. Or you might purchase gold or silver.

[palani]

Now i'm REALLY stressed![(:)]
Buy gold until you are no longer stressed. But in your case I suspect it comes from pondering big derrieres.

[Jewboo]

micro aggressions

[Hitch]

While I agree with the white noise part, Palani, I completely disagree with the stress. All stress is bad, it's unhealthy, it's created by the media, .gov, and all the false man made complications in life. That being said, what stresses one person out may not stress another. Some guys can have bullets flying past them and remain completely calm, no stress at all, while other guys pull their hair out worrying about money.

Here's the definition of stress: a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

That's bad on anyone's well being. The goal, is to as we move through life, be able to handle any situation WITHOUT stress, or at least temporary stress that limits the damage it does to us. To do this, we build upon our experiences in life. It's like building muscle, you slowly add more weight to build up your strength. Strength is good. Strength means you can handle things, physically. Build up life experiences and knowledge so you can handle situations that could be stressful to others, but to you, they are not.

[palani]

Build up life experiences and knowledge so you can handle situations that could be stressful to others, but to you, they are not.

Your definition of stress is either black or white with no shades of 'gray' in between. By your definition if a situation rises to the level of stress you act to diminish it. I am suggesting that there are degrees of stress and that things go on around you all the time that you need not act on but occasionally one pops up to a level or intensity or importance that needs immediate attention.

Look at it this way. Any action you take at all by reason should be in response to something that needs attention. If you don't act the thing that rose in your mind to this level of importance becomes a stressor. Meanwhile there are other things that happen that you know you should take care of but might delay the action required until later. So over the course of a day you might have a bucket list of things that you should get to but then the building you are in catches fire. Now consider this same bucket list of things to do or avoid doing and the building next door catches fire.

See the difference?

Now consider that your bucket list is entirely void and a building a mile away catches fire. In practical terms this stressor might be what happens in national politics when your local political system is in disarray.

[Hitch]

So over the course of a day you might have a bucket list of things that you should get to but then the building you are in catches fire. Now consider this same bucket list of things to do or avoid doing and the building next door catches fire.

See the difference?

Now consider that your bucket list is entirely void and a building a mile away catches fire.

Yes, I do see the difference and that difference is exactly my point. A building a person is in catches fire, yes that is very stressful. That is not stressful to me though. I am trained in firefighting. I have entered buildings on fire when stressed out people are running out of them. I do not find fire stressful, because I have experience and have been professionally trained.

Do you see my point? The point, is that stress is an individual thing. The point I am making, is that stress is universally bad however. The goal in life is to keep learning and gaining experience so that we reduce stress to a minimal level. If that is not your goal, you seek drama and are therefor considered by me to be a drama queen.

[palani]

Yes, I do see the difference and that difference is exactly my point. A building a person is in catches fire, yes that is very stressful. That is not stressful to me though. I am trained in firefighting.

So, there being no stress involved, you spot a house afire and decide to stop at Starbucks for a grande moolattie?

Or does it instantly achieve no 1 spot in your bucket list of things to do?

I am trained to fight oil fires on shipboard. I believe I would still be stressed when confronted with one.

[Hitch]

I am trained to fight oil fires on shipboard. I believe I would still be stressed when confronted with one.

Palani, stress is bad, period. You should avoid oil fires on ships. It's great you are trained, and if needed, can temporarily handle the stress of an oil fire, but you should not set that as a goal. Your GOAL, should be no oil fires. Good housekeeping and maintenance can prevent 99.9% of shipboard oil fires.

Me personally, I loved fighting fire. It was not stressful but exciting. We are all different.

The point is, stress is bad. It's just not good for us. The thought of a traffic accident stresses me out. I don't want to be stuck in a wrecked car. But fighting fires to me is fun. Funny how that is. I drive slow BTW, to minimize the chance of me being in an accident that might stress me out.

You should make sure the chance of an oil fire is minimized. Replace fuel lines. Good maintenance. One oil fire on occasion, as stressful as that may be, is not going to affect you. If you have one each day, or multiple fires a day, it will affect your health.

[Hitch]

So, there being no stress involved, you spot a house afire and decide to stop at Starbucks for a grande moolattie?

What does stress have to do with prioritization?

You will not answer that question.

I will for you. A fire, is an emergency. A grande coffee at Barstucks is not. Neither one will stress me out. I will choose the higher priority, the fire, at that moment, and focus my efforts on the house fire.

I feel like I am talking to a 4 year old.

[palani]

Palani, stress is bad, period.
No it is not. Without stress you wouldn't have a bucket list.


I feel like I am talking to a 4 year old.
I haven't heard you talk at all.