RELAYED STRESS: BAD NEWS TRAVELS LIKE WILDFIRE

Relayed stress comes from hearing and repeating bad news, and it doesn’t get enough attention.

Finding bad news is easy.

It’s as easy as opening a magazine, a newspaper; as easy as looking at a phone screen, a laptop, or a tablet.

Bad news is popular in print, on air, everywhere.

“Do you remember where you were when ___ happened,” has turned into “Do you remember where you heard about ___ for the first time?”

First hand experience is the loser here. And it’s stressful to admit.

Delayed stress turns into Relayed Stress.

Boomers know the drill:

“Do you remember where you were when President Kennedy died?”

“Do you remember when you got drafted for Vietnam?”

“Where were you when Roe v Wade became law?”

As time moved on more questions came up.

And they are anchored in bad news.

Stress Takes A Personal Turn

You’ve heard the saying, “You never know what someone is going through, so be kind?”

At the same time, no one knows what you’re going through, either.

And no one seems to care, or care enough.

Does that make you angry? It makes plenty of people angry. And stressed.

After medical tests you get devastating news about cancer, your heart, your partners heart and cancer, and it sinks in:

You’re in a tough spot.

And no one is kind enough to suit you. Not the doctors, your family, your friends.

You feel your identity getting stripped away piece by piece.

In response you find new friends, abandon your family, and line up with the ‘fuck your feelings’ crowd.

You are not a snowflake, not woke, or politically correct. For good measure you regress to attitudes held by the granddaddy you only met a couple of times.

Channeling an old southern man makes you popular with your new friends. They’ve found their voice in an old dump of a man they met on television where he played a successful mover and shaker in contrast to his real life as bankrupt serial assaulter with one foot in organized crime and the other in current authoritarian regimes.

Your new friends love their new father figure and some of it rubs off on you.

Listening to an unending stream of bullshit from a flunky looking for absolute adulation is easier than using your education and experience to break it down.

Lack Of Education And Experience Increases Relayed Stress

The education part gets harder when people decide aggressive ignorance is the hill to die on.

But that’s not you, is it? If it is, you’ve still got work to do.

You need to convince yourself that American elections can’t be trusted if your guy doesn’t win.

Any news organization that doesn’t parrot you and your new friends feelings isn’t truthful. Warm up your Fake News chant so you can say it together.

If the country is taking a dive the way you hear from the rally squad, along with your health, time becomes an issue.

You need to take things into your own hands after doing your own research. Are you ready?

With your education and experience and new super powers based on the relayed stress you keep leaning on, there’s work to do.

Covid Pandemic?

You will not comply with any mask or vaccine mandate. On top of that you’ll need to up your harassment and verbal abuse game to fit in.

The problem comes when an angry “WE WILL NOT COMPLY” turns into a whimper as we all say in such moments:

“I don’t want to die.”

But that won’t be you because God is on your side, according to your anti-vax minister who knows these things.

You do things your way for better or worse. The best part of your day is owning whoever your buddies are demonizing at the moment. You’re there to talk about every confrontation, every crisis, every issue your buddies cook up and deliver for maximum effect.

Relayed stress comes from bad news. Treat it by repeating it without checking the sources.

Or make a commitment to kindness and understanding. That’s the big effort.