"Do you know what stress is?"

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By Louie Salmon

Woah, what’s this? A second post in the space of two days?

No way! Yeah, I know, I can’t believe it either.

Do-you-know-what-stress-is-pin - People often say “It’s okay to be stressed” or “Everyone gets stressed.” But do they think about those who are really suffering?

Anyway, to the point of this story. I was recently getting a haircut (I know, how rare XD) and I have used the same barber’s shop for the last 10 or 11 years. He knows me rather well. So, he asked me how I was getting on as he usually does and I told him that I was feeling stressed due to my A-Levels bogging me down. He seemed surprised at my statement and asked me if I knew what stress was. I said no and he went on to tell me. He said that:

“Stress is a man who is doing everything he can to feed his family but is still struggling to get by.”

Now, I think that if anyone else had said this to me I might have wanted to have a go and tell them that anyone can be stressed for little or big reasons. But, there’s something about the way he said it and the meaning that came from within that struck me to be inspiring. Obviously, no one wants to ever hit the point where they are working so hard to feed their family and are still struggling to get by but it sucks to know that there are people in that unfortunate situation.

Within that moment, it had hit me.

It’s never really something that I think about and I don’t think that I’ve ever had anyone put it in that way before but it was rather helpful. I think, a lot of the time, people tell me what i want to hear instead of what they should tell me. I was in one of those situations where someone was telling me what I should be hearing and I was rather thankful for that. People often say “It’s okay to be stressed” or “everyone gets stressed” but do they think about those who are really suffering?

Now, my stress, as I mentioned, was revolving around school.

I mean, it’s a lot for me but nothing close to what someone else might be facing. I am lucky enough to be able to get out of bed in the morning and face what the day has for me. Yeah, sometimes it’s bad but sometimes, it’s really good. Sometimes, I get up late but sometimes I can get up on time but I always get up at some point.

Now, what I want to know is, are you that person? That one who is trying everything they can to feed their family but is still struggling? No? Think about it. How much does your stress effect you? Can you keep going? You can do it.

Yugen – A thought about the universe which triggers an emotional response too deep to put into words.

Reproduced with permission, originally posted here: yugenemotion.com