My Stress Score is Only 266, But I'm Working On It
Stressors, the way I see it, are plentiful. When I recently took the test to determine my stress score, my result did not shock me. The surprise was that there are only forty-three stressors on the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale that forms the basis for scoring your stress. My sense is the famous research studies were way too limited. My score is only 266 today, which is a solid medium. But I am thinking I may run short of stressors. After all, I am retired, and the points I took for that totaled 45, but those points will fall off after I am retired for twelve months.
As I say, if you go looking for
stress, you can find it anywhere. There's my broken shoelaces, narrow parking spaces, slow drivers, dumpster divers, cell phone callers out of range, traffic lights that never change, paper or plastic, all my waistbands are elastic,
robo-calls, slips and falls, annoying political ads, my grandkids wanting iPads, not enough gentle rain, caught again by the train, texting while driving, house guests arriving, drivers talking on their phones, irritating ring tones, mini-cams, paper jams, taxes, and faxes.
Pick up the paper or tune in to the TV News and you can find a generous source--tornadoes, school shootings, terrorist bombings, here and abroad, starving children, civil war in Syria (C'mon, when is war civil?), Iraq attacks, Afghan suicide bombings, ricin scares, landslides, drone strikes, hackers, identity theft, CEO's compensation, IRS being used for political purposes (perish the thought!), hurricane season, unemployment, slow growth-no growth, euros, Little wonder another of my friends reported recently she had given up watching TV.
I remember a song recorded by the
Temptations called "Ball of Confusion." It had a fine list of
stressors--I counted thirty-four of them. "People movin' out, People
movin' in... Segregation, determination, demonstration, Integration,
aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation... the sale of pills are at an
all time high, young folks walk around with their heads in the sky, cities
aflame in the summer time... air pollution, revolution, gun
control, shootin' rockets to the moon, kids growin' up too
soon... politicians say more taxes will solve
everything ... unemployment rising fast... eve of destruction, tax
deduction, City inspectors, bill collectors, population out of
hand... suicide, too many bills, hippies movin' to the hills, gun
control, sound of soul, shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too
soon... the only person talkin' 'bout love thy brother is the
preacher, and it seems, nobody is interested in learnin' but the
teacher...."
Looking at it now, I think this medium stress score of 266 is just about right. Just in case I start to run short, I have just sold my house. This will reduce my score by 31 points for no longer having a mortgage, avoid completely the risk of the 30 points I could have incurred if I had faced foreclosure. However, I am adding 20 points for changing my residence, and in all likelihood I will add back those 31 points by buying something else that has a mortgage. Hmm, not having a yard to take care of will likely change my recreational habits (adds 19 points). Looking back at those elastic waistbands, I will probably diet for a few weeks so I can fit into my suit for a couple of summer weddings (suit has no elastic waistband). This change in eating habits will cost me an additional 15 points. For those of you keeping score, I have no idea what my score will be in another thirty days. I may not have to borrow any stressors, though.....
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