It’s said that time is cyclical, repeating patterns like the annual arrival of summer—though each summer is different. When I read about a young politician who succumbed to stress, this cyclical principle came to mind. The cyclical nature of time, with its recurring patterns, can be seen in the way stress has been a societal issue for nearly two decades, with cases similar to the young politician’s emerging 10–15 years ago.
Historically, stress was primarily associated with society’s most vulnerable groups—those with low incomes, the unemployed, the less educated, and the ill. However, according to media portrayals today, stress has shifted to more privileged groups. The vulnerable are still stressed, but for different reasons: they struggle for survival, while many privileged individuals experience stress and anxiety, due to competition for status, power, and prestige.
This explosion of stress among the privileged coincides with the proliferation of self-help and anti-self-help books, both of which primarily target the more affluent. This has led to a new phenomenon: Stress survivors are now celebrated as modern heroes…
… The question is about why stress persists and what our stress narratives say about society. To explore this, we can turn to Aristotle’s ethical framework and Iris Murdoch’s concept of “unselfing.”
Read the rest in Psychology Today.
FINN JANNING 