Stress

 As we all know there are many things that happen in our lives. This can cause stress, but stress in small amounts is actually very healthy for you. Without it we wouldn't really grow or become better. When we thing of stress we often think of the extreme levels of stress some people deal with that causes depression and anxiety but that isn't the only type of stress. In fact stress is the emption being applied while the others are examples of distress or being subjected too to much stress. Now lots of stress isn't always something to fear. In fact, a few times when we go through extreme amounts of stress it can help us to do superhuman things that we normally can't even dream of doing. Have you ever heard stories of someone picking up a car so they could rescue a child or spouse, or even stories of people becoming hyper-aware or focused in dangerous situations so they can protect themselves or others? I have. Once when driving on a freeway in California I didn't realize that my lane was ending and by the time I realized I was in the middle of a semi and my lane was about to end leading to a crash with the semi. Instead of freaking out I suddenly seemed to know exactly what I needed to do in order to finish passing the semi and not crash including how much I needed to accelerate when I should turn the wheel. Well, obviously I survived but it was a really crazy situation and I was totally scared afterwards.

A really interesting fact I recently learned is that when you write the word crisis in Chinese it is in fact two words. Dangerous and opportunity. We all go through situations with crisis and have to be creative in order to overcome them. When trying to help someone who is dealing with so much stress they are becoming depressed don't try to help them by sugarcoating it or by saying think Happy thoughts. This isn't going to help them and may send them into a darker spiral while making it so they don't come to you as often. So how do I help them you may ask? Well be their friend. Help them know that they are loved and you are always there for them. You can also try to help them seek professional help. It is true that if they would take action to do something it would help them overcome that depression, but it only makes them feel worse and like you are judging them. Something I was told on my church mission is to Change My Perspective. Instead of saying the world is to dark. No one cares about me, or maybe I'm not pretty enough. These are all lies you have told yourselves. It is hard to overcome them but not impossible. Instead of thinking things like this you can try to look out of the box. It needs to be a truth because truth combats lies but you should look at things with a different perspective. I heard a quote the other day that goes something like this "don't try to take away the pain, take away the lies." I don't remember exactly who said it but I thought it was very profound. Pain is a necessary evil and helps us to grow but we don't need to make ourselves suffer because of lies we have made up. 

Now I know this isn't a perfect representation of stress. There is so much more out there I didn't cover and don't even know myself, but it is an attempt to help others who are struggling. You are not alone and you are important even if you don't feel like it at the moment. There are so many people who care for you that you don't even know about.