When I was growing up, nobody talked about stress or anxiety.
I'm not saying we didn't have it.
I'm saying we just thought it was called... Tuesday.
If I woke up and told my mother my stomach hurt...
She'd say,
"Good. You can hurt at school just as easily as you can hurt here."
Or the day I had to give a book report in front of the class...
I woke up convinced I was dying.
"Mom...I don't feel good."
She'd put the back of her hand on my forehead...
stare at me for three seconds...
and announce,
"You're fine."
(Apparently, she graduated from medical school while making meatloaf.)
I do understand why she thought this way…
The generation before me?
They didn't even pretend they had it together.
They were drinking martinis before dinner and smoking with the windows rolled up in the car.
Evidently, that was therapy.
There was no mental health day.
There was no self-care day.
There was no "I'm overwhelmed" day.
Anxiety?
My mother called it,
"Being dramatic."
Today we've got meditation apps...
Weighted blankets...
Breathing exercises...
Stress gummies...
Emotional support water bottles...
And enough self-help podcasts to fill three lifetimes.
Yet somehow...
We're more stressed than ever.
Maybe the answer isn't pretending stress doesn't exist.
Maybe it's remembering that we're stronger than we think.
Most of us have already survived raising kids, menopause, layoffs, heartbreak, family drama, aging parents, bad haircuts, AOL dial-up internet, and low-rise jeans.
We've been overwhelmed since rotary phones.
I'm not knocking this younger generation.
I wish I'd known what self-care was.
My generation thought taking a Mr. Bubble bath was living on the edge.
Which, in my case, usually ended with a yeast infection.
The truth is...
Stress isn't new.
We just finally gave it a name.
Now, if we could convince stress to do something productive...
Like…burn calories.
We'd all be a size zero.
Until then...
We'll keep laughing.
And maybe treat yourself along the way. ☕ This mug gets it.
Because life is still going to hand us Tuesdays.
And somehow...we always figure it out.
❤️ joey
