Lately, I’ve been getting more calls than usual from concerned family members. They describe too much stress, change, and anger. They talk about sons, daughters, spouses, partners, mothers, fathers whose behavior has been hurting what used to be loving relationships. I hear about quick tempers, silent anger and lots of unhappiness all around. And I hear of previously easy relationships that have now become battlegrounds. And I’ve been wondering, why now?
Surprisingly (at least to me!), what I don’t hear about in these calls is the economy, political angst, news reports, and other events happening in the world. But, while those issues aren’t mentioned in these phone calls, I”m very much aware that the world seems to many of us to be pretty stress-inducing lately! Prominent figures are openly hostile (rude?) to each other. Wars are taking lives and the details can be hard to hear. And the challenged economy has impacted most of us.
So even though my callers aren’t mentioning all these issues, my general impression is that just hearing about all of this is producing lots of stress. And that stress takes a toll on all of us.