Too foolish to talk about -
Stress. Now that word is well-known in the outports. In the old days, we wouldn't call it stress - it was known other ways. 'Gone foolish' was one way of putting it. But don't forget, back then we didn't know any different.
'Gone out of my head' or 'gone off my rocker' are other expressions for stress. And I'm starting to wonder about these phrases - 'Not tonight, dear,' and 'I got a headache.' Could those women be saying, "I'm stressed out dear. Maybe another time."
Another old saying for stress - I love this one - is 'I'm all mops and brooms.' Now the way I see this one is they had too much work to do and it was getting to them.
I often heard, 'I'm going to pieces.' This means that something happened and their nerves were getting worse. I often heard mothers say, "Those youngsters! The brazen young baggers are driving me to pieces." What causes stress? Maybe it is wanting too much. It is like my late uncle used to say, "The more you get, the more you want."
And when you don't get everything you want, your blood pressure goes up, and you're as contrary as a bear with a sore bum. You are a walking human bomb just waiting to explode.
Now, would it be better to be satisfied with what you did get? It is like my poor old grandmother used to say, "A half a loaf is better than none."
We all know that you can't live long on half a loaf. But you can live a long time on your needs.
From my point of view and not being a doctor, I believe that stress is caused by nerves. If too much pressure gets to you, your nerves get out of control. This leads to bowel movements. This is not good. You are getting rid of all that good food. In some cases, there is no bowel movement. This means you are greedy and keeping it all to yourself. This leads to more trouble. If you can't get rid of the garbage, the area gets contaminated.
Headaches are something else caused by stress. I never heard of Premier Danny Williams being tormented by headaches. Maybe he is immune to stress.
But on the other hand, he did have trouble with his heart. Now stress can bring this on. And what brought on the stress? I say he was tormented by the offshore oil and the Lower Churchill. I tell you now, he is not going to get bad nerves from worrying over the outports.
Another bad thing that is caused by stress is ulcers. Now this is a bad one. You can have this so bad, you've got to have a bottle of pills around at all times. In fact, every time I sat down to this computer, my ulcer get ulcers.
To live a good life without stress, all you've got to do is live a good life. Stay away from booze, dope and those evil cancer sticks. But the greatest medicine of all is a good dog.
Get a good dog and you've got a friend for life, and someone who is always there for you.
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