And the award for third most stressed state goes to…

Drum roll please.
Um, drum roll?

Ok.

According to a new Gallup report Kentucky clocks in at #3 in the ‘5 Most Stressed States’ category. From the article:

“In Kentucky, 44.8 percent of residents said that they felt stressed yesterday.” Read the full article here.

Why are we so stressed?

And is there anything we can do about it?

I’m sure there are a plethora of reasons behind our stress, and I in no way want to offer a blanket statement that somehow minimizes the seriousness of our stress, or the reasons behind why we experience the stress that we do.

However, in my own life, I have noticed a pattern. The more I ‘burn the candle at both ends’ [as my momma says], the more fatigued I become. The more fatigued I become, the more likely it is that I will experience an increased amount  of stress…and not just over the ‘big’ things. Often, in a state of fatigue and exhaustion, I find myself stressing over small, even insignificant situations.

Stress is cumulative.

It isn’t just the present situation that gets us…

It’s the deluge of the past five, ten, twelve…you get the picture.

And, while it won’t solve everything, I have learned the importance of

rest,

reflection,

stillness,

and making time for things that bring life and enjoyment.

Our lives are too cluttered. Many of us take ourselves way too seriously. If we take a break [a day, a week, whatever], the world will not stop; on the contrary, my world and yours will work better when we are refreshed and reenergized.

So, to my fellow Kentuckians…

May we learn to embrace the sacredness of rest. There is a rhythm built into the creation story in Genesis 1…a rhythm of work and rest. We are obsessively good at one, and too often, deficient in the other.