The Circular Reference

File under Understanding the Problem

In November of 2010, the American Psychological Association published their annual report titled Stress in America that paints a grim picture of stress in our lives. Their key overarching finding was:

‘As the U.S. economy continues to struggle for the third year, findings from the 2010 Stress in America survey paint a picture of an overstressed nation. Feeling the effects of prolonged financial and other recession-related difficulties, Americans are struggling to balance work and home life and make time to engage in healthy behaviors, with stress not only taking a toll on their personal physical health, but also affecting the emotional and physical well-being of their families.”

So what are we so stressed about anyway? Not surprisingly the report quantifies these 10 significant stressors in our lives: Money, Work, the Economy, Family responsibilities, Relationships, Personal Health Concerns, Housing costs, Job Stability, Family health problems, and Personal Safety.

We even tend to not understand how our stress affects others. 69% of parents said their stress had little to no impact on their children, yet 91% of kids responded being fully aware of their parents stress levels.

But where does this stress come from? Everywhere - television, marketing, guidance counselors, your Boss, the gym, little league, college admissions, talent shows, and on and on.

One of the major findings of the report was that “…lacking willpower was cited as a barrier to adopting healthy behaviors when lifestyle changes were recommended by a health care provider. Yet the majority believes willpower can be learned as well as improved, if they only had more energy and confidence.”

Talk about a circular reference! Basically that’s saying that you could achieve change if you could only increase your willpower. And you can increase your willpower if you only had more energy and confidence. And you can increase your energy and confidence if you could only change a particular aspect of your life. Ridiculous! It’s that logic that keeps us spinning our wheels in a constant battle against stress.

Song of the Day
So i think i'm late to the Gotye party, but this song is stuck in my head.  In honor of alternative-pop crossovers, the song of the day is Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" featuring Kimbra.