I apologize for the break in entries but I’ve been preparing for one or two of those life-changing events. I resigned my current position, we’re moving to another state, my wife is having a baby (any day) and we have been selling our house. Now some might see that as more than a confluence of stressful events. I see it as a confluence of stressful events.
A new baby is a fantastic event. I love babies. They represent a fresh look at life, a new perspective on humanity, and a passing along of hundred million year old genetic adaptation. A new career position is usually an opportunity to see problems from a different perspective. Meeting new people, doing daily tasks with a different cadence and being confronted with new and different problems always adds to a cumulative career of needed experiences. Moving out of a house you have lived in for many years has no redeeming qualities.
The stress of the events listed above is without question a risk factor for any of a number of bad outcomes. One of the more common expressions of stress is to overeat. Eating supplies a sudden sense of physiologic comfort and gives a brief period of rest in a tumultuous time. With the initial shock of life changes, adaptation to change is a fulcrum of tolerable reactions versus maladaptive reflexes. Overeating is just one small maladaptive change. Alcohol is another self-medicating approach to stress. Depression, evolution of cardiovascular disease and other medical expressions of stress might surface at any time.
When all is settled: new house, new state, new career path, new baby; the phenomenon of stress is very real and needs constant addressing.
A new baby is a fantastic event. I love babies. They represent a fresh look at life, a new perspective on humanity, and a passing along of hundred million year old genetic adaptation. A new career position is usually an opportunity to see problems from a different perspective. Meeting new people, doing daily tasks with a different cadence and being confronted with new and different problems always adds to a cumulative career of needed experiences. Moving out of a house you have lived in for many years has no redeeming qualities.
The stress of the events listed above is without question a risk factor for any of a number of bad outcomes. One of the more common expressions of stress is to overeat. Eating supplies a sudden sense of physiologic comfort and gives a brief period of rest in a tumultuous time. With the initial shock of life changes, adaptation to change is a fulcrum of tolerable reactions versus maladaptive reflexes. Overeating is just one small maladaptive change. Alcohol is another self-medicating approach to stress. Depression, evolution of cardiovascular disease and other medical expressions of stress might surface at any time.
When all is settled: new house, new state, new career path, new baby; the phenomenon of stress is very real and needs constant addressing.
1 comment:
I offer my sympathy with your work load and good wishes for your many projects! I empathise entirely having boxed up the PhD thesis for a few weeks with a family member having been hospitalised, while I stood around in hospital corridors completing a house purchase 500 miles away; with having arranged and now completed the move to the new house; and now living amid a dusty, damp proofing project (par for the course for living in an Arts & Crafts period Coach house), wondering how to get the hot water to work, why my Internet was not on after 5 days, when to get out to order blinds and how to unpack pronto so the boxes can go back to the movers' firm...
Good Luck! Hope to see you back online shortly.
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