I don't know why are we so stressed? Leave aside the elder ones, even kids are so stressed nowadays. They have acute stress from the examinations. If we look at the reality around us, the stress appears to be logical. There is so much of a struggle for survival. For one single job, thousands are standing in the queue. There are examples where for the job of a peon, MBAs have been recruited. It all creates stress in the minds of the kids. They get quite tense about their career and life. There are so many diseases all around and so much struggle from getting admission in the hospital to arranging money for the treatment to getting the right treatment to the recovery to getting leaves for the treatment.
However, isn't much of this stress the result of our own insanity. To me, it appears that most of the stress comes when an elephant tries to run like a lion or a lion tries to jump like a monkey. We feel stressed when we just try to follow the crowd without understanding ourselves. Society gives a premium to something that the majority likes. In the present day society, most of us like comforts and pleasures. Society has also devised a list of preferable pleasures and comforts. Going abroad, having fun trips, going on cruises, having parties at five-star hotels, and eating at expensive restaurants are all the preferences of the society of the day. All these require money. That's why money comes at the top in the present day society's wishlist.
So far so good. The problem is not with the preferences of the masses. The problem is following that blindly. That creates the stress. We hardly ever look inward to connect to our real selves. Due to that loss of connection with ourselves, we don't know what we want. We just start following what society preaches. That brings stress in a number of ways. Firstly, it brings conflicts within. Our inner nature silently guides us in one direction while the social mirroring tries to take us in a different direction and that creates a very big conflict. Many students are happy reading political science while society tells them to read science since science offers more remunerative career options. I have seen many such students having conflict throughout their lives.
Secondly, we never live in the present moment. We start running after a goal leaving everything else. We do not realize in the process what we do to ourselves. We get used to deferring life. We get used to ignoring the present for the future. If we are not able to achieve the target, we become sad and if we achieve the target, the habit pattern of setting a target makes us set another target and not enjoy the present moment. That is why the winner stands alone and keeps setting one after the other target. Topping the competitive exam to the topper in the college to the best placement to the best performance at the workplace to the achiever of the year to the fastest promotion to the fastest death😀
Thirdly, the most painful realization comes when we achieve the target set for ourselves by blindly following society to realize that it is not what we want. we feel cheated and irritated. However, by that time life has already passed and we can not redo the same. Unable to bear the pain of having spent our life in such a futile manner, we take support of pretensions and intoxication. Since such pretensions will not work with an intelligent person, such people start avoiding the company of those who question and surround themselves with like-minded people who are equally confused, all having fun together. The fun to take liquor and make their minds unable to think. That makes the possibility of a new start almost impossible.
Thus, probably the causes of stress are quite real if we analyze them on the surface. However, as we go a little deeper, it is our stupidity that is the main cause of stress. We do not want to stay aware and look at ourselves and the society. That lack of intelligence and awareness makes us behave stupidly. We do not discriminate our own calling for life from the social narrative. We fall into the trap of setting targets for our lives that make us uncomfortable while pursuing them, when we are not able to achieve, when we are able to achieve, and even after the achievement.
On the contrary, if we observe ourselves, we will soon realize what excites us. Whether we wish to explore nature, the planets, the climate, the oceans, the mountains, the psyche of the people, the kingdom of animals, the body of human beings, the languages, the literature, or the fine arts. If we live life with that spirit of exploration, that gives us immediate joy. We do not need to defer that joy for a future day. When we live life with that joy, we do well in any field we explore because work is no longer a burden. We enjoy what we do and get money too for that. What a beautiful life that is where we get money for having fun. Little awareness can take all the stress away from our lives and make life full of fun. However, the earlier the better and easier it is.
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