Remedy for life's stresses: dust off your ideals

By Cody Littlewood

September 16, 2008 | MY HEAD, Utah -- The older I get, the more consequences seem to loom over my head. They are no longer something that could happen -- usually they are an inevitability -- or so it would seem.

As a freshman or a pledge in my fraternity, all of the consequences of real life seemed to just be a distant mark that I would deal with later. Now that I am older, a junior. and president of Sigma Nu, it IS later. That later has come. That pending storm is here, the clouds have rolled in and consequences are very real. Money does matter, accidents can happen, and rainy days are around the corner.

What is it about growing older that seems to cement the awful parts of life into your mind? Can a dog really get kicked too many times? This is the theory: At a certain point in life, for the reader's benefit let us say freshman year in college, you have never been "kicked." Life is full of possibilities and exciting new mindsets. It is an incredible feeling of experimentation during this period in life. It is essential, but no matter who you are life starts to wear on you. Life becomes less and less exciting and more dreaded the more you are kicked by life. This can come in many forms. It could come from the law, from broken dreams, or from any other sort of authority, but the point is that we are continually ground down to submission. Life smooths out our rough edges and we are all the same smooth stone among many millions of blank faces.

How is that we all do this? How do we all allow this to happen? How do we allow our marriages to die out? How do we allow our dreams to fade into the sunset? How do we sit by and let our fiery passion for life get extinguished? It's depressing to stand by and watch, but I, like you, feel it happen with every day.

My dreams have been squashed, and my will has been broken. It is an all encompassing word that seems to be framed when anyone speaks of life wearing you down. Stress… Stress is what wears you down. It is caused by many different sources, but stress itself is the disease. You may be infected with it because your boss uses you as his punching bag when he's away from his wife at work, but you can't quit your job because you have a family to feed. You may be infected because of expectations from your parents because you will never be able to meet because you are determined to be yourself and not the child they wanted. You could be infected because of the rules that society places on you that restrict you from happiness. Perhaps you married someone you will never love because it was expected of you. Perhaps you never tried to be an artist because being a lawyer paid more. You will become sick no matter what religion, creed, or race. It is unavoidable in this American society.

However, there is a cure. Yes there is hope. This antidote for the terrible poison of stress is simple yet not easily obtained. It is simple and it is a small corner of the mind. It is that dark corner that hasn't been swept out in years. It is difficult to find, especially after years of it being pushed back into the corner by stress. It is that corner of your mind where your ideals live. It could be your dreams, or your own personal truth. Perhaps you believe in a revolution or a life spent in humility. This is where the passion lies. These ideals live and breathe just as much as they did when you were young. They have been lost, but our ideals are all that we can ever hold onto. Regardless of what life has told you or what you believe is impossible, if these ideals are held to you will always know whatever you do is right…at least to you.

This is all that matters. Your personal truth and freedom of your mind is held in these ideals and no church or government can ever take these from you. They remain pure and important. They are all that we ever have in the end. They are the penicillin to this infection.

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