Pandora, Stress Management, and Hope

Here is a timely story for this holiday season.

It starts with a wedding gift. So far, so good. It was a gift from Zeus to the gorgeous young bride, Pandora.

However, Zeus put Pandora in a double bind. You see, while she received this beautiful box (actually, in Greek mythology, it’s a jar). The head god, Zeus, told her never to open it. That would cause lots of stress. What’s a girl to do? Stay obedient and always wonder? Or possibly peek inside? Is another option to open the box/jar fully?

Positive stress management means to decide what will make you happy.

What would you do?

After all, what was proposed was not fair. I say if someone gives you a gift, for crying out loud, open it.

The story continues.

Young, beautiful, and curious, she took the risk and opened the box, hoping to see gowns of silk and bracelets of gold. Instead, out of the box poured all the evils of the world. What poured out was poverty, disease, jealousy, anger, corruption, and lying in the shape of ugly creatures (thugs, if you will).

In addition, more creatures showed up that included stealing, bigotry, polarization, and mean-spiritedness.

Subsequently, as the box emptied, there was a flood of contamination, war, pestilence, physical and sexual abuse, gun and knife fights, and partisanship.

Finally, all the rest of the evils of the world flew out. All the crap was now on display.

The best way to effective stress management is to find solutions

As you can imagine, all hell broke loose.

This predicament sure sounds like the state of today’s world.

In other words, all the awful things listed above occur daily somewhere on this beautiful planet, right here and right now.

I recently saw Mother Earth interviewed on Saturday Night Live. When asked how her condition, her comment was, “I’m pissed and hot!”

Maybe she should talk with Pandora.

Would there be less stress if Pandora had followed what Zeus told her? What would the world be like if she had not opened the box?

The story continues.

There was only one thing left in Pandora’s Box, and it was crying to be free.

Now there is a double dilemma. Pandora did not know what was crying to be out in the open. Could it be even worse than Covid, than Delta, than the shootings and lootings going on everywhere?

When you are managing stress you must do something, but what?

Once more, I ask, “What would you do?”

Above all, here is what Pandora did.

She opened the box this one last time.

As a result, something positive happened.

Most importantly, what flew out of the box was, ta-dah, hope!

Moreover, it flew from the now open box in the shape of a beautiful dragonfly.

In addition, hope as a dragonfly healed all the wounds inflicted by the thugs, those ugly, evil creatures, as only hope can do.

Perhaps good can come from being curious enough to manage stress effectively. It’s time to give change a chance. I have a webinar about that very subject. Let’s work toward the kind of change that comes when we hope for a better world.

We are at the cusp of change. Here are the choices. We can permit the evils of the world to win. The other option is to help hope thrive on its journey. If we all do our part, we can heal the planet. I vote for hope to overcome the bad, the hurtful, and the ugly.

In conclusion, this holiday season, let’s hope that enough of us are ready to take a stand and say the crassness, defensiveness, and exploitation will stop now.

With deep appreciation,

Sylvia

PS. Too much stress? Read my new book “Invisible Stress (It’s NOT What YOU Think!).”