Healthy stress grows our character, strengthens our minds and bodies, and humbles us.
But how do we get that healthy stress in our climate-controlled lives?
Pressure and Purpose
Purpose naturally puts pressure on us. It directs and guides us. It moves or draws us towards its ends, requires results, and motivates us with rewards. It keeps us from things that are undesired, destructive, or just a waste of time.
Think of school work. I always aimed for good grades, and that motivated me to actually do my homework and work hard at it. It stopped me from wasting time on too much video games (usually) and helped keep me from the drugs and alcohol that was around me and would have derailed me.
I think of the people who did not adopt find that healthy stress in high school. They wasted time out in the forest smoking and playing hooky. Many of them didn’t really go anywhere.
I know there are complicated reasons that someone might choose that lifestyle, and I’m not trying to be inconsiderate. I also think that any life can be turned around. That said, when people shirk healthy purpose, they leave behind overall health and success with it. The good stress of purpose will stop you from going down such roads.
Perspectives and Purpose
My Christian worldview has given me an all-informing and all-encompassing sense of purpose. I know that my life is to be lived for the good of others and the glory of God. I live to tell others about the purpose that Jesus taught and the understanding that he gave. He takes care of my failures so that they don’t weigh me down or guilt me as most religion does. He promised hope for a new earth in a future life, but also one that continues from this one. Thus, “what we do in this life echoes into eternity” as Maximus says in Gladiator. This completely changes how one lives.
I know not all of you reading this will come from or even be interested in a Christian perspective. That’s fine, although I do think that theists have an advantage here since I can’t see a good reason for having purpose that you just make up or that comes from something in our material world.
That said, I do think anyone can (and must) take advantage of the idea of purpose and the healthy stress that it puts on you.
Consider thinking of purposes or “mission statements” for the different areas of your life. For example, you may have this mission statement for your family responsibilities: “I will prioritize my family relationships above all others, doing my best to help each member flourish, putting their needs above my own.” When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, this kind of statement will be a stressful one to carry out. But it will push you towards healthy living in an area that really matters.
So wherever you’re coming from, and whatever place of “health” you’re at in your life, consider the benefits of purpose and the stress that comes from it. Remember that even though stress might seem particularly hard at first, you’ll need to build up strength to do it – but you’ll be better off for it.
Finally, be challenged: do you have purpose in your life? Are you giving yourself to meaningless or secondary things? Perhaps you need to do some soul-searching.
I hope you find strength in it all,
Corey
