THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Stress

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are." - Chinese proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Make Stress Work for You

I had gone to bed at midnight. It was now two in the morning. I was still awake, stressed thinking about my book, which — ironically — is about happiness. Trying to unwind, I opened my laptop and started watching clips from The Daily Show. An ad for a popular sleep aid came on that I thought was still part of the satire; while the first 20 seconds promised me that if I took it, I could go right to sleep, for the next 40 seconds a soothing voice told me that if I took the pill, I would also risk seizure, sudden heart attack, hallucinations, extreme levels of anger, swallowing my tongue, and might commit suicide. After an ad like that, I knew if I took that pill I'd be much too stressed about the possible side effects to ever fall asleep.

I realized this was no joke — it was a real ad. And I realized this is exactly how corporate trainings talk about stress at work.

In order to get companies and employees to take stress seriously, for the past 30 years, most trainers and coaches have highlighted research that shows that stress is the number one health threat in the US (World Health Organization); that 70-90% of doctor visits are due to stress-related issue (American Stress Institute); and that stress is linked to the six leading causes of death (American Psychological Association).
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