Running – a cure for all?
Two decades ago life has being much simpler and less stressy than it is in today’s time. I guess each Generation feels the same way that “the old” time was simpler and more easy to brake away from daily sometimes boring and monotone cycle. Not only is our new time more instant but all seems today more polarized.
As the instant society ask for immediate solutions to problems that can’t produce lasting results in such a short time, we amass unsolved problems. Over time those have piled up over our head where now some smartasses who thought of macro acting on every single matter of life. This has created huge amount of highly polarized and not seldom aggressive behavior. Those polarizations have created a sort of unhealthy extremism – Stress factor One.
On the health front, medical technology has improved, the pharmaceutical industry has found new cures even for AIDS (or at least ways to containing it) that was unthinkable of 20 years ago. And despite all such advancements we are more than ever vulnerable to physical, mental and emotional illnesses. Obesity (with almost a epidemic dimension), Depression, Cancer and similar illnesses have become a constant follower in our life – Stress factor Two.
To add another important burden to the individual is/are the economical burdens. We live in a tough economical times where way too many struggle to simply cover their daily needs. Lately I heard that in Greece some people deliberately infect themselves with the AIDS Virus in order to obtain HIV-allowances. I agree, this is extreme but it shows the pressure bad economy is putting on the people – Stress factor Three.
And last but not least – Stress factor Four – that is least discussed in society but on the rise. I call it the DiD type of citizen (DiD = Dictators in Democracy). Who are they? DiD have are in strong position in Society, Economy, Government and/or Politics and many people must rely on them. If you don’t agree with a DiD he/she is going to make your future life Hell. I know personally of a case that lasted over two decades. DiD’s are adding a tremendous amount of stress on individuals where some commit suicide, resort to criminal acts with the hope to eliminate the DiD source, other fall into depression or become otherwise addicted to illegal drugs, etc.
Usually knowing the source of Stress gives us the possibility to counter act and avoid it. But we often are confronted with the situation that we have no power to circumvent an above described situation as we rely on the other side. A simple example would be; when you tell to a Police Office/Commander/Captain that his behavior is not tolerable and in return that Government employee uses his position, Tax Money and other professional tools to (State-)Bully you. We could go to court – in our case it would be useless as it is in every political system difficult to file a case against the executive authority. You could go to the streets that requires a good backing from like minded. You may end up in a vicious cycle – that alone mean Stress especially when it takes years to achieve success.
My point here is; if we can’t avoid being exposed to bad elements we need to create our own positive environment. In my own experience I made two distinct experiences that today I pretend saved my life – Running and Meditation. Before the bad time I practices both intensively. That helped me to maintain balance and control much longer would I not have being trained well. During bad times I was mainly running. Under Negative Stress I am not suggesting to push hard while running as this would only support you reaching faster a state of Burn-Out. It is wiser to run in a pace where you can think and reflect and find solutions to problems. But most of the time Running simply helps you to let go your thoughts – it’s not a contradiction.
This entry was posted in Running and tagged Bullying, Burnout, Children, Depression, Eating Disorder, Economy, Education, Family, Harassment, Health, Healthy Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Meditation, Mobbing, Obesity, Performance, Running, Sleep Disorder, Sport, Stress, Teenager, Youth by DuneBlog. Bookmark the permalink.