Is stress normal?
Hello everyone,
I hope we're all doing good.
I heard a really amazing message on Sunday. It was talking about how sometimes, we've made agreements with the devil and sometimes, that is the reason why we can't move forward no matter how hard we try. Think about anxiety, or maybe even better, stress. I think it's very possible that we are a generation of people that have become so accustomed to stress that peace feels weird and foreign. I know I've definitely felt that way. Not because I want to be stressed. But when I am finally stress free, I feel guilty as though it's a bad thing. And this might not be the case every time, but Steven Furtick said it right when he suggested that sometimes we enter self pity mode, or stress mode because we think that if we welcome or cause the problem, then the effect will be less than if we were attacked; we think it'll take the pressure off. Its like when we expect the worst to avoid being disappointed. We stress and we worry about everything that could possibly go wrong so that we don't feel like an external force is pushing that sadness and worry onto us. That really does tie into the question of whether we really are free as people right now. But before I even get into that, I just want to encourage you. It might be easier to worry and stress sometimes. Not because those are pleasant feelings, but because we've let ourselves get used to them and begin to depend on them as crutches to avoid disappointment... not that they actually work. If you feel this way or have felt this way, this is your reminder that it's not the voice you hear that determines the life you end up with, but the voice you believe. Even if the voice that's telling you to worry and be afraid is louder, all you have to do is believe that peace and joy are available to you, even if those voices are a lot quiter. Peace and joy are availble... they're just a little faith away.
This idea of freedom is something that has been weighing on my mind for the last year. I was reading a book and making observations and I just realised that even though we're not physically enslaved like some of us used to be, we're still in chains. They just look different now. Instead of metal preventing movement, we have expectations preventing growth. I think there is so much external pressure to be and do certain things. And whether we know it or not, that pressure shapes what we think success and happiness look like. So while we may not be slaves to physical masters, we are slaves to the expectations we put on ourselves which are mostly direct reflections of the expectations society has put on us. I once had a really confusing conversation with my friend about what and who counts as society. It was pretty confusing, but I think it was necessary. It's very easy to put the blame on society when you have not defined what society is. But if we think of society as everyone outside of ourselves, then we get a pretty good picture on how everyone can have an expectation of who we should be and how that affects what we think we should be. You don't have to be like everyone else. If we only needed one type of person, we would only have one person. It would do us a lot of good to take inventory of our lives and discover those conspicuous or inconspicuos things that we are slaves to; the things that influence our decisions and our emotions. And if you find out that that influence is coming from the wrong thing, then you know what you need to do.
Finally, I heard of something pretty crazy that happened recently. Apparently, Germany was playing a friendly against Honduras in preparation for the Olympics and someone was racist to one of the German players. Now all the news sites I saw said 'allegedly', so maybe they don't actually know. The part I'm trying to highlight here is the reaction of the German coach. The team legit walked off the pitch and left. When I saw that, all I could say was 'woah'. That right there is action. I would never in a million years have thought that a coach or a team would respond in that way, but maybe it's that kind of blunt, no-nonsense reaction that will finally get people to be intentional in how they speak and how they treat others. Even if officials don't know if anything racist was said, the reaction of the German team sends a message; maybe the message that will finally get through to everyone... Racism is not accepted or tolerated.
God bless.
Dera
I hope we're all doing good.
I heard a really amazing message on Sunday. It was talking about how sometimes, we've made agreements with the devil and sometimes, that is the reason why we can't move forward no matter how hard we try. Think about anxiety, or maybe even better, stress. I think it's very possible that we are a generation of people that have become so accustomed to stress that peace feels weird and foreign. I know I've definitely felt that way. Not because I want to be stressed. But when I am finally stress free, I feel guilty as though it's a bad thing. And this might not be the case every time, but Steven Furtick said it right when he suggested that sometimes we enter self pity mode, or stress mode because we think that if we welcome or cause the problem, then the effect will be less than if we were attacked; we think it'll take the pressure off. Its like when we expect the worst to avoid being disappointed. We stress and we worry about everything that could possibly go wrong so that we don't feel like an external force is pushing that sadness and worry onto us. That really does tie into the question of whether we really are free as people right now. But before I even get into that, I just want to encourage you. It might be easier to worry and stress sometimes. Not because those are pleasant feelings, but because we've let ourselves get used to them and begin to depend on them as crutches to avoid disappointment... not that they actually work. If you feel this way or have felt this way, this is your reminder that it's not the voice you hear that determines the life you end up with, but the voice you believe. Even if the voice that's telling you to worry and be afraid is louder, all you have to do is believe that peace and joy are available to you, even if those voices are a lot quiter. Peace and joy are availble... they're just a little faith away.
This idea of freedom is something that has been weighing on my mind for the last year. I was reading a book and making observations and I just realised that even though we're not physically enslaved like some of us used to be, we're still in chains. They just look different now. Instead of metal preventing movement, we have expectations preventing growth. I think there is so much external pressure to be and do certain things. And whether we know it or not, that pressure shapes what we think success and happiness look like. So while we may not be slaves to physical masters, we are slaves to the expectations we put on ourselves which are mostly direct reflections of the expectations society has put on us. I once had a really confusing conversation with my friend about what and who counts as society. It was pretty confusing, but I think it was necessary. It's very easy to put the blame on society when you have not defined what society is. But if we think of society as everyone outside of ourselves, then we get a pretty good picture on how everyone can have an expectation of who we should be and how that affects what we think we should be. You don't have to be like everyone else. If we only needed one type of person, we would only have one person. It would do us a lot of good to take inventory of our lives and discover those conspicuous or inconspicuos things that we are slaves to; the things that influence our decisions and our emotions. And if you find out that that influence is coming from the wrong thing, then you know what you need to do.
Finally, I heard of something pretty crazy that happened recently. Apparently, Germany was playing a friendly against Honduras in preparation for the Olympics and someone was racist to one of the German players. Now all the news sites I saw said 'allegedly', so maybe they don't actually know. The part I'm trying to highlight here is the reaction of the German coach. The team legit walked off the pitch and left. When I saw that, all I could say was 'woah'. That right there is action. I would never in a million years have thought that a coach or a team would respond in that way, but maybe it's that kind of blunt, no-nonsense reaction that will finally get people to be intentional in how they speak and how they treat others. Even if officials don't know if anything racist was said, the reaction of the German team sends a message; maybe the message that will finally get through to everyone... Racism is not accepted or tolerated.
God bless.
Dera
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