Hal - Deliberately Basic

The Sad State of a Stressed Man

Men are pressured to release the pressure that plagues nearly everyone. We are incessantly reminded that pent up stress is the reason we die younger than women. Medical journals, magazines, television, and the Internet generates as much about men and stress as they do cancer.

This is not to imply that women do not experience as much stress as men; but accordingly, women have a different mentality about the whole thing, and talk to other women. In other words they vent, bitch and complain.

The gist of the way men and women differ in their approach to dealing with stress is this. Women tend to “befriend” while men use the “fight or flight” syndrome. This is all very nicely laid out in an article at ScienceDaily.

I believe there is more to this than a simple UCLA study can confirm. Women talk and women listen, and they seem to like to talk and listen. In our society men are not given the same liberties to complain. If a man talks about his issues, or stress, it better be to a therapist, else he will be labeled as a chronic complainer, and quickly become a pariah. No one wants to listen to someone vent, bitch, and complain, unless its woman to woman.

So, what does a man do to release stress? Many of us vent, bitch and complain anyway. Then we apologize for it, hope we haven’t been pigeon-holed as a complainer, and look for other ways to relieve our tired minds. Most of us suck it up, internalize it, and return it in the form of anger. Whatever we do along this line is obviously a negative reaction, and in the end, it kills us. Along the way, we hurt others, especially our families and friends.

There is an abundance of information available about how to deal with stress. Most of it is pop-psych bullshit that lists things at the level of a third-grader. There is no one size fits all for stress. Some of the things suggested are undoubtedly worth looking into. Maybe they will help some men deal with this problem common to all of us.

In the end, you need to take an active role and find your own way. Yes, that is about as cliché as any statement can be. But if you have to deal with serious stress, and you know its affecting your life in a damaging way, you have an obligation to get involved with your own well-being.

Will most men actually get involved and find a way? Probably not. We will continue to act as we always have. Change is just too damned hard, and most of us don’t need the added stress of having to go through any life change.

Meditate on that, and the consequences of not dealing with stress. Maybe it is worth a look.

Related posts:

1. Are We Raising a Nation of PussiesAnother woman handed her son his shield, and exhorted him: Son, either with this or...
2. Why I Hate HopePessimism Redux I thought I was the last living pessimist, and damned proud of it....
3. Speed Phenomena UncoveredSigns of Aging I often notice how fast some of today’s young people talk. And...
4. Pizza Pops and Moms Your Dad On A Pizza Box Should you ever need a dumbass, deleterious, counterproductive,...