Chris+W’s+OpEd+Article



by Chris Waechter media type="file" key="chrisw-muckraker-0910.mp3" Why do we stress? Is it even worth it? These are the questions that cross our minds in everyday, overwhelming, and challenging situations. We are our own critics, that is, the ones that are putting more stress in our lives than needed. And I admit, it occurs way too often to control!
 * __A Word on Stress__**

He or she can involve themselves in an infinite amount of activities: sports, music, community service, local clubs, and of course school on top of everything. There is not only the pressure to balance all of these activities out in order to make yourself eligible for a “good college,” and feel failure if done any differently, but also not exhausting yourself to death so the whole schedule is completed and repeated day after day.

I cannot contemplate the hours a student will spend on school projects and essays, and the constant pressure there is from teachers, parents, and college board which promote the idea that everyone can be a “perfect child” and live their lives as if we were all machines, stimulated only by achieving the A and getting an acceptance letter from the college of their dreams.

I am on the same terms as everyone else; sports, music, and school are the activities that do not work well with each other; particularly sports and music. Sports require that you attend every practice on time, show up prepared and mentally focused, and at any instant, perform and give it your all. Music encourages feeling what it inside your soul, and expressing it by the sound, rhythm, and notes that you produce. From what it sounds like, sports are demanding and therefore cause more stress, when in reality, both cause the same amount. Because most sports require a lot of attendance, it always conflicts with music.

Whenever I feel like playing music, the next moment I discourage myself by thinking how much better I could be, so I want to escape to sports and not think about it. But when I start playing sports, I think of how much I want to leave because I am so exhausted, and escape to play music. That leaves school as the only other option, but then there is the all the outside pressure of doing well in school. So then I move on to try to relax, but then I find myself thinking about what I could be doing instead of wasting my time trying to get myself to calm down when stress is going to be caused in the exact same situation as before and repeated endlessly.

Why does it bother everyone? Because it hardly ever ends.

It is depressing to consider that there is stress all around, we just find it and make it what it is. Stressing is what makes us human. It is the only headache that can never be cured. Why try and prevent it from happening, even if it will occur sometime later?