Stress Quotes

“Depression’s defining symptom is anhedonia, the inability to feel, anticipate, or pursue pleasure. Chronic stress depletes the mesolimbic system of dopamine, generating anhedonia. The link between childhood adversity and adult depression involves both organizational effects on the developing mesolimbic system and elevated adult glucocorticoid levels, which can deplete dopamine.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

“The damn organ between his ribs continued to pound relentlessly. He cursed again, gripping the windowsill until his knuckles turned white, but his heart wouldn't slow.
As if insisting on reminding him that he had one.”
― Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Assistant to the Villain

“Some people complicate their life and then complain that their life is complicated.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, Leadership by Example: Be a role model who inspires greatness in others

“Stress also desynchronizes activation in different frontocortical regions, which impairs the ability to shift attention between tasks.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

“Stressful conditions tax our cognitive bandwidth, reducing our ability to think clearly and exercise executive control. Stress also hurts our ability to make rational long-term decisions that require delayed gratification. Living in a community in which we feel a sense of trust and support acts as a buffer against the detrimental impact of scarcity. However, a higher level of income inequality in our community can fray our sense of social trust.”
― Dan Ariely, Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things

“Everything has
its own pace
its own timing.

True of working, studying, learning.
True of illness, sorrow, grief.
True of change, of transformation.
True of conflict.
True of peace.

You can't change the pace
without changing its nature,
changing the experience.
And the experience is its own end.

The end never justifies the means
because every means is its own end.

It's not just about you,
your natural pace,
it's about what you're doing
what's being done
butterfly effects
over miles and years.

The river will not be pushed.
The rain will not cease until it has finished pouring down.
The sun will not rise before dawn.

This is where we are.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Too much tension is a disease; but so is too little. There are certain occasions when we ought to be tense, when an excess of tranquility (and especially of tranquility imposed from the outside, by a chemical) is entirely inappropriate.”
― Aldous Huxley, Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics & the Visionary Experience

“Whether one becomes irrationally risk taking (failing to shift strategy in response to a declining reward rate) or risk averse (failing to respond to the opposite), one is incorporating new information poorly. Stated most broadly, sustained stress impairs risk assessment.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

“In the absence of stress, men tend toward more risk taking than women; thus, once again, hormones enhance a preexisting tendency.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

“... contemporary studies show that the worst stress-related health typically occurs in middle management, with its killer combo of high work demands but little autonomy -responsibility without control.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

“Here I am counting my blessings, wins and successes, while the closest people to me are counting my trials, losses and curses. Same book, different page. It be your own family.”
― Niedria Kenny, Order in the Courtroom: The Tale of a Texas Poker Player

“Everything has
its own pace
its own timing.

True of working, studying, learning.
True of illness, sorrow, grief.
True of change, of transformation.
True of conflict.
True of peace.

You can't change the pace.”
― Shellen Lubin

“The end never justifies the means
because every means is its own end.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Researchers have shown that the flooding of stress hormones resulting from a traumatic separation from your parents at a young age kills off so many dendrites and neurons in the brain that it results in permanent psychological and physical changes. One psychiatrist I went to told me that my brain looked like a tree without branches.

So I just think about all the children who have been separated from their parents, and there's a lot of us, past and present, and some under more traumatic circumstances than others--like those who are in internment camps right now--and I just imagine us as an army of mutants. We’ve all been touched by this monster, and our brains are forever changed, and we all have trees without branches in there, and what will happen to us? Who will we become? Who will take care of us?”
― Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Undocumented Americans

“People do tend to burrow in
for winter holidays
but then
burrowing can be as damaging
(implosion, avoidance)
as it can be cozy
(buzzword: self-care)
maybe one maybe t'other
maybe some of both.”
― Shellen Lubin

“When the world is so fraught and full of fire--
hearts and minds and countries
burning up
burning down--
going in may be
the escape urge--
as if it's no longer there--
but it's all still there
all the time--
reading news or not--
outside looking at seasonal lights
store window displays
children's cherry-cheeked faces
or not--
even when heads are buried in pillows.

Take a break to breathe. The frenzy and furor continue.
Take a break to weep. The exquisite beauty is still there.

All continues on
and will be there upon return.”
― Shellen Lubin

“This man was a high-powered operator, but also prone to overwork. He earned a high salary, but he couldn’t use it now that he was dead. He wore Armani suits and drove a Jaguar, but finally he was just another ant, working and working until he died without meaning. The very fact that he existed in this world would eventually be forgotten. “Such a shame, he was so young,” people might say. Or they might not.”
― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

“I was in doubt, and then everything took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted myself... You don't know what it is to doubt everything, even yourself... It was the doubt as to the reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in the dark, and distrustful. But now that I know, I am not afraid...”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula

“It’s when I start burning the candle at three ends that I begin to wonder how many candles I’m actually burning.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Stress is a survival mechanism that serves an obvious evolutionary function. When we are anxious, our autonomic nervous system releases a cascade of chemicals (stress hormones), which give our body instructions on how to prepare to face danger. Our heart beats faster to pump more blood to the muscles, and our breathing becomes heavier to provide us with more oxygen. Muscles tense up to protect us from injury and to facilitate fighting or running. Sweating helps cool the body down. Our attention increases, and our reflexes become sharper, keeping us alert. Stress acts as motivation, helping us to focus on our goals and rise to meet our challenges, whether those involve studying for an exam, flying a fighter jet or scoring that match-winning goal. In short, stress serves a purpose. The problem, however, is that beyond certain threshold stress ceases to be useful.”
― Dimitris Xygalatas, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living

“Evolutionary analyses suggest that stress is not what it used to be. For most of human history our ancestors lived in physical and social environment that were very different from what most of us experience today. Life in those environments imposed a set of selection pressures that shaped our species’ genome and behavior, leading to the evolution of anatomically modern humans. Although it is not entirely clear where exactly one should draw the line between them and more archaic forms, paleoanthropologists agree that by at least 50,000 years ago our ancestors were fully human.”
― Dimitris Xygalatas, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living

“A human being in a highly technicized productive unit is simply not allowed to be spontaneous. It just interferes with the plan laid down in advance by the engineers and technicians who decide how he should word, and in this way he, the human being, is profoundly diminished, because he is not permitted to be spontaneous.”
― Aldous Huxley, Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics & the Visionary Experience

“How can I deal with this compassionately?”
― Babauta L.

“To build muscle: stress, rest, repeat.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Rep By Rep

“I sit in the field, just waiting for the rain again,
with patience, yet without an ounce of stress,
I wait to have the heart that’s my refrain,
the heart which heals me without to poison press…”
― Will Advise, На чист Български...: Pristine Bulgarian sayings...

“A Moment of Joy"
The ruling global elites
are holding their breath in anticipation of
who may be the first to start a nuclear war!
The wealthy and the stock market traders
are fearfully watching the fluctuation in the stock prices…
Writers, media pundits, and academics
on the payroll of power and authority
are worried about a potential revolution
that may put an end to the powers in place,
and consequently to their existence!
Doctors, engineers, and other professionals
are all alarmed and watching the job market
in fear of losing their cushy jobs!
Only the waitress at the nearby restaurant
is experiencing a moment of joy
for the generous tip she just received
from the last customer tonight!

[Original poem published in Arabic on October 30,2023 at ahewar.org]”
― Louis Yako

“For those who ask, “Why do you want to be my friend?”
I respond readers are naturally friends.”
― Kayle James, How to stop overthinking it: Unlock intrusive thoughts, anxiety and stress to achieve emotional freedom.

“Nature. It's the furthest away from the drama, news, and stressors of life. Find your way to some nature today.”
― Andrew Pacholyk, Pearls of Light: passion, poetry & positive affirmations

“Resolver los problemas incorrectos, incluso de manera eficiente, en realidad tiene consecuencias negativas”
― Juan I. Fernández, Libertad para Gente Inteligente: De la cognición a la acción

“The mind can go either direction under stress - toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune