Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Connect with people and places that matter to you

I have been involved in studying (and tackling) stress for decades. A number of things have stood out for me from my activity in this area. One important one is that there is a danger that, when pressures start to mount, people have a tendency to stop doing things that normally help them cope and keep pressures within manageable limits (and thereby avoid stress). Ironically, this then has the effect of making stress more likely: just as pressures are mounting, we start doing less of the things that counteract stress. For example, the person who really benefits from going to the gym regularly and is able to use that to keep pressures under control may reach the point, once pressures start to multiply, of not bothering to go to the gym – they don’t feel up to it. The person who gets a lot of benefit from talking over problems with trusted friends and colleagues may keep their own counsel and not say anything when the pressures reach a certain level – they don’t feel comfortable talking about it any more. People who cope with pressures through humour don’t think it is funny any more and withdraw into themselves, switching off the humour, thereby putting themselves in a situation where they feel the pressures more acutely …

Click here to read more