Consider these recent items from the April 2010 edition of Fast Company magazine:
According to a psychological survey done in 1938 and again in 2007, anxiety and mental-health issues are 5 times more common now among high-school and college students than they were toward the end of the Great Depression.
Two-thirds of spoken curse words are a result of stress. Swearing accounts for 80 of the 15,000 words typically spoken per person per day.
In Sweden, mental illness, including stress and anxiety, accounts for 41% of total sick pay, up from 15% in 1990. The nation has one of the world’s most generous sick-leave laws–workers can get up to 75% of their salary for years.
One in four Americans admits to having taken a “mental-health day” to cope with stress. The costs employees $602 per worker per year.
Sixty-two percent of Americans are stressed about work, according to the American Psychological Association.
Eating 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate every day for two weeks was shown to reduce stress. [In a study conducted by Nestle…no lie!]
One third of American children ages 8 to 17 say they worry about their family’s finances. Two other major sources of childhood stress are homework and testing.
Globally, more thna three out of five doctor visits are stress related. In the US alone, more than $22.8B is spent on anxiety-related health care each year.
Each year, more than 275M working days are lost in the US because of absenteeism resulting from stress.
Only dead people do not experience some type of stress. I’m reminded of the words of Jesus Christ given to some of his followers during a very stressful time; words that have helped alleviate stress in my own life inumerable times:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many living places; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I am going to prepare a place for you and, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return and receive you to myself, so that where I am there you also can be.
I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [The New Testament book of John, chapter 14, verses 1, 2, 3 & 6]
Stress is inevitable in almost everyone’s life. Allowing stress to crush you, however, is optional.
