STRESSED OUT SOULS IN THE URBAN LANDS

 “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” That was quoted by Khalil Gibran, it is effective and to the point because it does not use fancy words or get preachy and pretentious, in short, it’s to the point. There is a certain satisfaction in opening a blog with a famous quote because it takes out the stress of establishing a premise that suits the palette of the remaining parts that are to follow. Speaking of stress, it’s evolved to become a buzz word in the recent times. Stress and nostalgia are all but some necessary evils of our life. It’s understandable to include nostalgia as a necessity but where does it make sense to make stress a necessity suddenly. What if maybe the core fundamentals of what attributes as stress has been taken wrongly in our little understanding we have about life. That thought led me to delve into the very core of what stress is in general?

But before I dive into what stress is, it is better to understand what nostalgia is. There isn’t any definitive connection between the two of them per say but each of their nature has been wrongly preached to the minds of current millennials and nostalgia is a good starting point to warm us up for the bigger event called stress. Nostalgia has been mis conceptualized as a way of reminiscence and remembrance which by itself holds a bit of truth but not the entire story. Nostalgia as a concept was first coined to convey the thought of longing for one’s home or homeland, but when urbanisation hit worldwide, the true essence shifted to a more open perspective of longing for one’s past. The topic is getting too historic, so skipping the boring stuff up, that moment, exactly when we zone out from the reality that levitates us into a plane of memories where all the factors that made us struggle during that present are filtered out and only a few peculiar and heart-warming incidents are emulated around us. The funny thing is that even the embarrassing and uncomfortable stuff back then start seeming a little manageable. Experience maybe doesn't give wisdom alone, but also fills us up with enough perseverance to give a better fight the next time you face the same variant of this turmoil.

Now that we got a better idea of what nostalgia is, we can now concentrate on what stress is. If you observe properly, I suck at writing because there isn’t a proper structure to what I write. I opened the topic talking about stress and then dedicated an entire paragraph talking about nostalgia which was unnecessary but that exactly is how life works. We all start our day keeping one stress on our head but must do something that is totally unnecessary to progress and be good at it. All while we still must concentrate on things that stress us out. That is how a normal human being should survive to be healthy too. That statement is controversial, but I’ll take my time in explaining it.

Stress in general is vaguely classified into good and toxic. Bad terminology aside, there is a major difference between the two and people just carelessly think they are one in the same. What essentially constitutes as toxic stress is trying to escape the stressor or else trying to decrease the stress impact on our life. Both are the definition to what was quoted at the beginning of this blog, “wanting to control future”. These only emulate negative energy within us which gives birth to the kind of stress that takes lives. So, what exactly is good stress you may ask, well it is your daily life itself like attending an exam, meeting a deadline, fulfilling expectations, or maybe committing to something. All these instances are accomplished only if you take up the challenge and raise up to the occasion. You don’t necessarily need to deliver with flying colours all the time, but a present time sub-par performance is a potential for future big-time performance. The best cure for stress isn’t meditating to forget its presence but it is about understanding the excitement to solve that very stress. You should meditate for focus and not for distraction. 

In conclusion, nostalgia, or stress all of it is simple if you break them down to the fundamentals rather than being lazy about it and looking through other’s lens. Even right now, do not trust me for the stuff I say, sit down and let your thoughts go wild and make conversations about the said thoughts, you might find a completely new perspective and as I always believe that the world is run by perspectives. Finally, Nostalgia is creative death because it is nice to have a warm blanket called past, but it is advised to rid it to develop resistance for the cold called future, you can always have it back when you fall sick. Stress isn’t a disorder, it is a phase and when you pass by it, all you should have is confidence and a chest full of reassurance.