# Mountains out of molehills It's elementary, my dear Watson... There are few things in this world worth stressing over. Yet the average human of the 21st century spends a staggering amount of time in a stressed state. Unfortunately for these specimens, stress causes issues. According to the Harvard Medical School: ==Over time, repeated activation of the stress response takes a toll on the body. Research suggests that chronic stress contributes to high blood pressure, promotes the formation of artery-clogging deposits, and causes brain changes that may contribute to anxiety, depression, and addiction. More preliminary research suggests that chronic stress may also contribute to obesity, both through direct mechanisms (causing people to eat more) or indirectly (decreasing sleep and exercise).== Ruh roh Raggy! It appears we're getting more and more stressed over time? Is that right? If it is, perhaps the issue is a lack of emotional fortitude. We want to swipe right and solve all of our problems instantly. The slightest obstacle sends us reeling. God forbid having to compounding learnings and effort over a long period of time to accomplish a task. We've become more powerful and yet lesser than we have ever been. No wonder we crumble under the slightest pressure and resort to marinading in stress. Forlorn though this appears to be, perhaps we may find hope in the recognizance of earlier humanity. Far enough back, and we lived in caves amongst mammoths and battled saber toothed tigers. THAT was stressful. Especially without food delivery or video streaming after the bout. Imagine learning how to use fire, or deciding you'd be the first cro-magnon to practice agriculture. Fast forward in time, and you might have lived to see 1/3 of the population in Europe decimated by the plague. Every other person you saw was going to die. Stress. Yet we have the gall to complain and allow ourselves to be stressed about the most pathetic things: slow internet, summoned driver is late, cold food at a restaurant, traffic, or the dreaded internet troll. Scope out. On the cosmic calendar of the universe (ideological credit to Cosmos, a wonderful program), all of humanity has existed in the final minute of the final day in January. We are tiny nothings in an ever expansive existence. The very thought of anything we do in a single day having any effect of magnitude on the rest of everything until the end of time is laughable. We can't even see most things, let alone effect it. Most of it happens in our head. Perhaps it shouldn't be allowed to stay there, taking up valuable bandwidth. My question to you is this - do you benefit from stressing out about things? Could that time be used to problem solve and eliminate the issue you're stressing about? The way I see it, either you can do something about it or you can't. If you can, then do it and don't waste your time stressing. If you can't, then there's nothing you can do anyways and you might as well not waste your time stressing about it. Regardless, you have a pathway that doesn't involve stress. Red or blue pill, the outcome is the same. Reject the popular notion that stress is a viable or necessary outcome. It's a myth and a lie coopted by people who want something to blame for their results other than their own inadequacies. This is kindness in its purest form in my opinion. You may hate to read this, but think about it from the other perspective: how do I benefit from telling you this? You may be a competitor of mine, and I'm giving you the key to stress free living. The light in the dark to follow out. Now you have some bandwidth to compete with me. I should in theory leave you there. Except! You competing at your best forces me to get better or perish. It's best to lift up those who can bring out the best in you. Scoping out, you are going to influence people who will influence people who will eventually touch enough of humanity to materially change my life. Best if we help each other, else we all fall down. Throw away the shovel for the cleaner binoculars, the mountain may actually be a molehill.