Fear and loathing, pretty much everywhere
Yes, the economy sucks.
Besides that, what is the deal with everyone I know having anxiety issues? I was emailing a friend just now and realized even the most well-adjusted, stable, happy friend I have has at least minor to medium sized Anxiety Issues.
Why?
Do we lack coping skills? Do we just have too much sugar, salt, caffeine, booze, et al in our systems? Are we over or under medicated? Are the bovine hormones we ingest via our steaks effing with our human hormones to create a vicious cocktail? Are we pissing away all of our serotonin?
Dudes, I don't even pretend to know the answer.
6 comments:
A typical American day starts with caffiend (spelling intentional) and ends with alcohol. Thus we daily slam from stimulation to sedation.
Maybe, just maybe, we should reverse the order? Sedate first, then stimulate as required? I would need a ride to work in the morning....
You know, I also think one of the things affecting people is the variety and number of people being laid off these days - or those having hours cut, or some other sort of reduction.
My brother works for a large law firm in my home town. They had a meeting last week to let everyone know they weren't letting people go right now (another large firm let some support staff go, so there was an air of nervousness) and also let them know there would be some changes this year - no bonuses, no raises as of now. He was appreciative that they nipped the rumor mill in the bud so quickly, but apparently there are still people nervous and updating resumes "just in case."
For me, personally, I think it's the decided lack of jobs out there, and the ever-growing pool of people to compete against. It's not that we can't cope - it's getting used to a new level of uncomfortable. We've gotten used to a pretty cushy job market, and I know I've gotten used to being able to find something relatively quickly during previous periods of unemployment. The only other time I've gone a while between jobs was after September 11th. That was a six-month period between September 1 and the middle of March. I've been out now since the middle of September (aside from a seasonal retail gig) and am starting to be more concerned, even though we've moved in that time.
Come to think of it, I like the idea of blaming it on bovine hormones. I can't blame coffee - I love it too much.
Maine Dude - Shoot, that is why we have public transportation. I'm liking your thinking.
Kelly - "Getting used to a new level of uncomfortable" is a great way to put it. I shall quoth you!
In a former job I had to do performance reviews for staff and one of the criteria was 'Tolerance for Ambiguity'. Which translated to 'when your manager and his/her manager don't have any clue what is going on, and everyone is running around ass-backwards, how do you handle that?' I always thought is was sort of a stupid criteria, but with the way things are going now, I think it makes more sense.
Steve - I know that no economy, job, manager, etc is perfect...but I've had enough ambiguity for a lifetime or two. My new motto: Ambiguity can suck it.
First, we're upside down on our mortgages...even if we didn't buy at the peak - job loss = forclosure! Second, too many of our companies have let people go and then expect those remaining to do the same amount of work as all of the people they laid off...with the ever present threat that we could be next! My eye is twitching!
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