After almost three years of a global pandemic, the world has gone back to adopting many of the unhealthy habits we had previously. We have failed to hold on to much of what we learned during those less busy days when we were forced to spend more time with family and do things that were healthier for us. We are back to living in a very stressful world and the evidence is all around us. Many persons are again complaining about how stressed they are and our current approach to life is fuelling it.
Busyness is considered one of our society’s biggest virtues. We talk with pride about our ability to multitask, work long hours, and having a career that takes us away from our homes and families. Unfortunately, such boasting about how busy we are is counterproductive because of all the stress it produces. Busyness is again one of our biggest stressors, but God says, “It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to His loved ones.” (Psalm 127:2 NLT). We weren’t made to live like that and it’s unhealthy.
God’s desires for us to walk in rest, and He wants to restore to us a sense of well-being, but for us to take hold of it we have to challenge our stressful lifestyle habits and apply God’s prescription to them. God wants us to walk in rest. Our bodies are designed to experience a healthy dose of stress. Stress is our body’s natural, or instinctive survival response, to cope with physical threats or danger. So, if a bad dog runs toward us,we will experience a rush of adrenaline and cortisol; increased sugar levels, heart rate, and blood pressure so that we will take off or fight for our life. To cope with emergency situations, the body produces hormones or bodily fluids that allow us to experience heightened levels of energy, strength, instant reactions, and clear thinking. This happens when we have exam pressure, for example, and it pushes us to study hard and many times we crash the day after, and the stress is then released.
However, what is happening to many of us is that we are again living in a constant state of stress, and too much stress causes damage and dysfunction to our body, mind, and our soul (emotionally). If our stress button is pressed too frequently, our bodies will be on continuous alert. When the body doesn’t have a chance to rest and recover, then the stress becomes distress and destruction follows. We can suffer physical and emotional health problems as a direct result.
Stress can come from physical demands like long hours at work, but if managed properly we can release that stress. When stress in generated from the emotional arena it can get serious. For example, anxiety is the overall feeling of being worried about the uncertainties of life. It’s a feeling of unease and concern that produces behaviours like compulsiveness, apprehension, fear, nervousness, panic attacks, tension, and stress. Worry is allowing the mind to dwell on the difficulties and uncertainties that accompany life. Worry produces unhappiness, nervousness, and causes people to be constantly frightened.
Yet again we see around the world that people are becoming increasingly stressed out about finances, family, life, and the future. God has not designed us to operate in unhealthy stress and He wants to show us how to deal with the things causing us to feel stressed. God has the solutions, and we need to get them.