Higher the Success, Higher the Stress?
In a world full of competition and division, every individual craves success. And after you reach a particular milestone, you do not wish to stop there. Because well, yeh dil maange more. So, every person looks for new milestones and achievements to unlock. But as your success rate increases, your stress also increases.
As much as people crave success, they also desire stress relief. But it is vital to understand the causes or reasons for stress. It might be excessive workload, loss of interest or burnout. And frequently, stress leads to frustration, depression, poor anger management and health adversities. A few common causes of stress you might be able to identify are –
1. Pressure
Be it a new challenge, project, or school assignment. Sometimes, we burden ourselves with wanting to be perfect and outdo our previous work. External factors such as matching the expectations of people around you, especially your family, can also make you feel a lot of pressure. Sometimes, procrastinating the work at the last moment can also build pressure. Comparing yourself and your lifestyle constantly with others is also a reason for self-induced anxiety or stress. And all these reasons can be causes of stress.
2. Change
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has bought us a lot of stress. The sudden change in situations, going under a lockdown, inability to meet daily needs or financial expenses and especially not being able to afford health benefits have increased stress. Not only that, many job seekers couldn’t find jobs as hiring halted. People who already had a job and were underperforming also got fired during the pandemic. Young ones, especially students about to graduate, felt a lot of stress regarding their future and career.
Irrespective of age, gender and religion, grief has taken a toll on many individuals. Other kinds of change include getting married, having a breakup or a divorce, entering a new phase in your life, starting a new job, etc. The sudden shift in life can also be one of the reasons for stress in your life.
3. Health concerns
Apart from COVID, many other health concerns can result in stress in a person’s life. Suffering from an illness, injury and inability to meet deadlines or complete your essential daily tasks can make you pity yourself, resulting in stress. PMS, PCOD, Pregnancy, post-partum, infertility, and abortion can cause excessive stress for women. Entering parenthood is also said to bring enormous pressure as parents worry about their babies’ well-being.
People have found themselves stressing about getting treated, whether a small operation, infection, treatment plan or complicated surgery. Mental health problems like anxiety, depression or taking therapy are also causes of stress.
4. Abuse
Emotional and physical abuse can increase stress levels and lead to anxiety and depression. People around us face different kinds of abuse in day-to-day life. Verbal abuse is when someone passes a negative comment on your life, body, image, or ideas, which induces stress. Women stress about protecting themselves against sexual abuse or physical abuse.
People in complicated relationships with their parents, friends, siblings, family members, children, colleagues, teachers or partners are often said to face emotional abuse of different levels at different stages of their relationship. It can induce a lot of stress on an individual and also lead to potential health risks.
5. Societal Standards
To live in a society, everyone thinks they need to match specific criteria. The criteria include having a secure job, a good bank balance, housing, medical care, getting married, having kids, access to good education for your kids and many more. Caring about material things like clothes, shoes, vehicles, properties, furniture and more to fit into society can also stress a person.
Making progress at your work, competing with your colleagues, always trying to work harder for that bonus, taking on too many roles, retiring, unemployment, or facing difficult situations at your job also place people in a position to worry about getting judged by the society. People tend to avoid debt or poverty to fit society’s perfect definition. The reasons for reaching societal standards are the significant stress causes for most Indians.
6. Discrimination
People discriminate against others based on various factors. The factors include race, age, colour, gender, financial status, religion and caste. People who are used to growing up in a particular place discriminate against people who look different from others. Reaching a certain age brings responsibilities. And not fulfilling the age requirements like the rest of your age group gives people an excuse to discriminate against you. Having different kinds of skin complexions is also one of the reasons for discrimination.
Gender biases, especially regarding women and the LGBTQIA community, also affect people’s mental health. In India, the caste reservation system, caste politics, and unfair treatment of minor castes are reasons for caste discrimination. Whatever the form of discrimination, it eventually stresses people as it keeps raising questions regarding their social status and life choices. Studies have shown that even the anticipation of getting discriminated against leads to being stressed.
