My Stressfulness
I mainly tend to get stressed by stress. What I mean by that, is that whenever I recognize something has caused me to be stressed, that knowledge alone actually increases the stress I experience for a time after an incident; at least until I can put it out of my thoughts.
I used to love to drive. I’ve owned some sweet rides. Now, driving is one of my least favorite things to do. In fact, I hate it. Sometimes I wonder if the problems I have with driving-related stress is due to my getting older... and maybe I’m crankier. I don’t think that has anything to do with it, however.
Let’s take truck drivers, for example. They really were, at one point, real professionals, and they drove like professionals. For example, (although I can only speak about the situation in the United States), one would hardly ever see a semi in the left (fast) lane, and if one was seen in the left lane, there was a good reason.
Today, however, truck drivers blatantly delay traffic, by occupying the left lane when they should not. But maybe it isn’t really all their fault. I can’t remember the last time I saw a “Slower Traffic Keep Right” sign, so it could be that the rules of the road have been ravaged along with other rules we used to respect.
Even today, truckers aren’t nearly as bad as some of the people driving cars, SUVs, pickups, etc., especially when it comes to the level of ignorance found in so many drivers on the roads today.
How many traffic deaths have occurred since the beginning of smart phone texting? Yet it’s one of the dangers we tend to look away from when it’s brought up. Maybe because we do it ourselves?
It was bad enough when cell phones arrived, and people were driving while one of their hands was busy holding the phone up to their ear, and having a conversation. THAT kind of behavior was enough to cause a lot of accidents. Texting is a million times worse, at least.
The thing about this kind of stress, at least to me, is that it’s so hard to deal with because I’m helpless to change the reality that drivers, in general, are getting worse and increasingly more rude to other drivers.
The way I deal with it, is by driving as little as possible during the day. Going out evenings for dinner and a movie say, the traffic isn’t anywhere near as bad, and I never get stressed. But other than going to the gym and visits to the grocery store, I do everything I can to stay off the road during the day.
I have to admit I was kind of stressed during the Justin Sun war because it messed up my concentration on writing, and I got hardly anything at all posted for most of two weeks. I was tired mostly, I think, with the weird (for me) hours that I was awake, affecting my sleep cycle.
Things are pretty much back to normal for me now, and I’m very grateful for that.
My Stressfulness © free-reign 2020
This is my entry for the Power House Creatives contest hosted by @zord189. The contest is for PHC members only. Please join our discord, https://discord.gg/TarXnxn if you’d like to participate. For this week’s contest, @zord189 has tasked PHC contestants to write about what stresses us out and how we deal with it.
Thanks for reading!
Sources for images used in this post:
(Public Domain photos are from Wikimedia Commons)
On Off Buttons: Image by kalhh from Pixabay
Texting & Driving: TSgt Samuel Bendet / Public domain
posh:
Yes, stress is very stressful! But seriously, life is full of things that cause anxiety, and one of those things is the behavior, choices and unavoidable consequences of the choices other people make around us. I want to bubble wrap my kids, because they don't understand that even if they're great drivers the people around them may be distracted, drunk or negligent. When factors outside of yourself take away your control, it is the worst feeling of all.
Well said, and although I haven't heard of one in the last year in my area, we now have to wonder if we're going to encounter someone driving on the wrong side of the road, intentionally. There was a spate of it happening in recent years. Unbelievable!
Saludos amigo. El uso de telefonos celulares mientras manejan son causales de accidentes de tránsito cada vez más.
¡Saludos a ti también, amigo! Estoy de acuerdo, y creo que cuanto más complicados se ponen los teléfonos, más peligrosos son. ¡Gracias por leer!
Regretfully I switch off and cannot write when stressed, during this last month I have found too many things happening at the same time to settle down. So glad a move has been made in the right direction for everyone to connect again.
Lockdown has been stressful in that my husband paces up and down, no bowls, no walking and no patience to sit and work with his hands, drives me up the wall to say the least!
Avoid the roads and driving it has become suicide alley, trucks, taxi's, high speeds, texting, throw it all together it is most probably the biggest killer in our country.
Yes stress visits all of us, sometimes very sneaky throwing us off balance, keep smiling and keep doing things at your own pace!
You got a winner , my stressfulness I love it that’s a new word in my vocabulary and mindfulness can go
Thanks! It's kind of a soothing word, isn't it? When I thought of it for the title, I thought it sounded kind of like a spoof title of sad songs that might have titles like "My Emptiness," or "My Loneliness." 🤣
Throughout the years I learnt not to stress over the things that are beyond my control. It is an exhausting, energy draining process. In my case, I noticed that a higher level of stress has a direct influence over my Lyme symptoms. Whenever I am getting some bad news or I am worried about something that I can not alter the outcome, I get a relapse. Thus, I am always trying to focus on the bright side of things and avoid stress as much as possible.