Member-only story
Release the Pressure
Much of the pressure you’re under is of your own making. This makes it hard to release the pressure.
In a lot of us, there is an instilled need to be constantly doing. Striving. Working to gain, advance, achieve, or what-have-you. The need tends to create pressure — which then leads to stress.
While stress in small amounts can be an impetus for creation and a lot of amazingness — too much stress leads to depression, anxiety, and mental/emotional issues. Unchecked, unrelieved, that can lead to physical illness, heart attack, stroke, and other nasty, even potentially fatal physical matters.
Because, as a society, we tend to believe that constant pressure is a necessity of achievement, we don’t make much effort to relieve it. Instead, we seek escapes from it. These include smoking, alcohol, harder drugs. Even outlets like sex, exercise, and diet — which can be employed to not just escape but relieve the pressure — get used mindlessly for escapism.
Most of us first turn to the outside sources of pressure. Work, expectations from friends and family, overarching societal pressures to have/be/do certain things, and so on. We point to these as the problem and work to alleviate it by turning our attention fully without and ignoring what’s happening within.
