Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

[DayCruiser]

Just seems to me that we live in a world of nothing but bad news these days. I know times have been tougher in the history of the world but in this day and age of the worldwide 24/7 news it is in your face all the time. Not all hype either but very real. We are being hit from all angles of the spectrum:

Fuel prices. Just when you think they are going down, they shoot back up for no apparent reason. Ten cents higher per gallon in the past week here. Really hard on the boating and driving budget

Grocery prices skyrocketing. I thought they were high. Now they are going higher because of the Midwest drought and heat wave. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to turn food into fuel.

Massive extreme heat wave all summer long for much of the country. My home AC is running non stop$$$$! 100 degree boating fun?

And on and on. I am about to spend a large amount of money(for me anyway) on a home improvement job that really should be put off until there is better economic news. But if I put it off then who knows how much it will cost next year with prices jumping like they are?
We consumers are the economy but all this bad news makes me and probably many very anxious when contemplating spending any money that we don't have to.....

I am just really bummed out these days and have a sense of impending doom in the back of my mind. I cut out watching the news talk shows on Sunday. I try and avoid any news but that is nearly impossible. I used to be a news junky. But now there is so much bad news that effect us directly, that I really don't need to add Europe's etc bad news to the mix--which effects us too in many ways but still...
No wonder many people are cracking under the strain. I just have to go boating every week no matter the gas prices. Boating is my therapy . I know I will have to stop that soon with the way they are letting the precious water out of the dam......ugh!!!

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Ooops! I stand corrected. Just went out and bought gas. Went up 5 more cents. That is a 15 cent increase in a week and 1/2. Iraq has dramatically increased their output. Their goal is to match Saudi Arabia. All the refineries are online. Just normal rhetoric coming from Iran but the United Emerits opened a new bypass oil pipeline. So that leaves Corn

 

[mscher]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

I am too, but my problem is I need to put things in perspective.

I was talking to another driver yesterday, who live through the siege of Sarajevo. For three years, they lived through constant artillery shelling, burnt their furniture, for heat and ate leaves off trees, for food. NATO had water, several miles away, but you had to dodge snipers, who would shoot anything that moved. 12,000 people were killed. This happened in the 1990's in a modern city.

That would seem pretty stressful, to me.

He cannot believe his great fortune to now be living in America, despite our "stresses".

In my family, We have good paying jobs, but work like dogs, to get it. We are probably in "average" health, with obesity actually being a problem (too busy to eat right?). We recently purchased a modest rental house, for MIL to retire in, but now it's more trips to Menards and playing "handyman" after a long work day. I can still raise sheep, but now get to pay $12 bale for hay and $8 for corn, due to the drought. Sleep is a luxury and we are not even considering vacation. No time for deer hunting.

When I get stressed, it helps to think about those who have it a a lot worse.

I have turned off political discussion boards, talk radio and news stations and am focusing on old Ford tractor hydraulic repair - something truly important.

Hang in there.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Relax before you get committed to a hospital vacation!

I will break it down for you a bit-

Okay so gas jumps .10 per gallon and you use how much boating every weekend including the truck? Lets just take an arbitrary number and say you use 100 gallons per day for 3 days = 300 gallons x .10 increase in price and you have spent an extra $10 per day. A slight change in your driving habits could save some of that and a few less snacks in the grocery bag will also help that. Remember I said arbitrary number and your use is probably less.

The massive heat wave is something no one can control and have you figured out how much the AC costs to run? Oh but wait...... you are out burning gas on the boat AND keeping the house way cool??

People in the South have to change the temperature in their home lets say 30 degrees in the summer to reduce the temp from 100 down to 70 which = 30 degree change. Here up north in the winter we run our heat 7 months of the year. We need to change our homes temperature on an average of 35 to 40 degrees just to get it to a toasty warm 68 in the winter and yes we have to run AC (for maybe 2-3 weeks) at the hot time of 80+ degrees.

Grocery cost (not prices) goes way down for me in the summer. I eat less, I grow allot of my own fresh veggies (far better than the market) and shop at the local farms for other veggies. Takes a big bite out of the spending.

Construction projects around here are mostly weather dependent and many homeowners have turned to DIY (Home depot and lowes are proof). I pre-purchase all the supplies I need when they are on sale in anticipation of the big building day.

There is no doom coming. We will all survive it. One of my plans is to purchase a nice set of oars for my smaller 14' boat so I can go out fishing w/o any gas concerns or maintenance concerns.

My parents went through similar concerns as my great grandparents did. I am now the grand parent and I understand how my son feels and the grandchildren are too young to realize it yet. There is no doom but there is a rite of passage.

It's not anything new that is happening. The Chicken Little Story was being printed in 1840 !!!!



EDIT added in -

My wife and I were discussing this post and her response was to buy cheaper beer and to take coffee from the home in a travel mug instead of the daily stop. No way will she drink cheap beer as I pointed out.......... so she settled on the coffee

 

[dingbat]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Its an election year. Gloom and doom is the message. How can things get better if you elect our candidate if everything is just peachy?

The cost per mile is cheaper now in proportion to income than is was in 1976.

A/C is a luxury, not a necessity.

With 35% of American being obese, higher food costs might not be such a bad thing

 

[VtSteve]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Very true Bob. I've listened to all of the gas price discussions since 2008, and then way back in the 70's. I complain mostly about cell and cable bills, which are higher than my fuel bills. Cut something out to do what you want to. I could go out to dinner tonight, or boat, or golf. I could also make a great dinner myself, and do the other two I boat for two entire weekends for the price of my Comcast bill, and for a month if I add in our cell phone bills.

All about choices.

As for the bad news? There has been nothing but bad news since the 70's, it sells. Now we have angry pundits and campaign ads every five minutes 24/7. If you don't listen to them? You'd never know we're so hopelessly lost Get in the boat, and they don't exist.

 

[emoney]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

In my world, we never try to skew reality with things like "truth". It's too upsetting.....lol

Having said that, I think the current "state of affairs" is solely a generational thing. What I mean is, ask any 20 yr old what they think about the world and you'll probably get "I think it's cool". Ask a 30 yr old, and he'll probably say, "I don't have time to think about that with a 4 year old to chase". Ask a 40 something and things start to get a little more bleak and so on and so forth. I'd imagine if you applied math to it, throw in words like "inflation" etc. and we're probably about the same as we've always been.

One cool thing I noticed watching the Olympic gala was that the U.S. team was so diverse in culture. The Chinese team was easy to pick out, as was most every other country's. But ours consisted of almost every race and that's what makes this country in this time pretty cool.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Having said that, I think the current "state of affairs" is solely a generational thing. What I mean is, ask any 20 yr old what they think about the world and you'll probably get "I think it's cool". Ask a 30 yr old, and he'll probably say, "I don't have time to think about that with a 4 year old to chase". Ask a 40 something and things start to get a little more bleak and so on and so forth. I'd imagine if you applied math to it, throw in words like "inflation" etc. and we're probably about the same as we've always been.

Hmmmm so you are saying History repeats itself!

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Turn off the tv......... Sticking ones head in the sand for a while can help put things back into perspective. News has always been gloom and doom. It's not news if everything is peaches and cream. In an election year it just gets worse. All you hear is a list of what's wrong with this country, not the longer list of what's right!

I agree, turning food into fuel wasn't the brightest thing that could be done. With the drought, it just bit us in the heinny. Now us consumers have to pay on so many different levels.

I guess we can't try and control things that are uncontrollable. We can adjust and control what we can in our own households. If that means cutting back on spending, then so be it. It may mean putting off projects for now. If a project isn't completely necessary, put it off and save the money. Less spending means less stress. Besides, stressing about everything is too stressful...

This will all eventually pass and times will get better........

 

[Expidia]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Wow, I've been feeling the exact same way as you, Day Cruiser. So I went to my Doctor and he put me on these pills that he said won't take effect for 105 days! This seemed very strange to me, but I'm no Doctor. I just do what he prescribes. It must take 105 days for it to build up in my system, I guess

 

[chris.j.marshall]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Turn off the tv......... Sticking ones head in the sand for a while can help put things back into perspective. News has always been gloom and doom. It's not news if everything is peaches and cream. In an election year it just gets worse. All you hear is a list of what's wrong with this country, not the longer list of what's right!

I've become a believer that the media drives gas prices as much as anything.

 

[jkust]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Completely agree. I've become stressed out all the time. I can't help but focus on how divisive the country has become under the current administration. Not being political here just frustrated and stressed at what has happened in the last 3.5 years and the effects I'm now seeing on business. I feel like we have allowed the country to go down the tubes and it's like i'm living in a fiction novel.
I don't care much about gas prices since all my vehicles are v8's and boating and gas usage just go hand in hand. I feel like all the sudden success is looked down upon and I just can't believe that is how the country is. Almost 100% of my stress if related to the effects of the current administration in one way or another. The policies have literally taken earnings out of my pocket and decreased our standard of living. Now add on to that the stressers of raising a family and all that that entails. I am out of words to explain how the country has gone down hill in 3.5 years and my feelings toward that.

 

[rivermouse]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Completely agree. I've become stressed out all the time. I can't help but focus on how divisive the country has become under the current administration. Not being political here just frustrated and stressed at what has happened in the last 11.5 years and the effects I'm now seeing on business. I feel like we have allowed the country to go down the tubes and it's like i'm living in a fiction novel.
I don't care much about gas prices since all my vehicles are v8's and boating and gas usage just go hand in hand. I feel like all the sudden success is looked down upon and I just can't believe that is how the country is. Almost 100% of my stress if related to the effects of the current administration in one way or another. The policies have literally taken earnings out of my pocket and decreased our standard of living. Now add on to that the stressers of raising a family and all that that entails. I am out of words to explain how the country has gone down hill in 11.5 years and my feelings toward that.

here I fixed it for you

 

[jkust]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Of course you are and no one is going to buy that you aren't. As to going down hill, no, every indication is that we are recovering (Slowly I grant you) from the Republican disaster of the previous administration. Oh, "that's not being politcal" either.

Not political just telling it is how it is here in my little corner of the world. The topic is stressed out and almost the entirety of my stress is caused but governmental rules, regulations and laws at this point. I work for a business affected and my wife owns a small business and the policies, rules, regulations and laws are finally hitting us smack in the face, no politics mentioned. Blame whomever you wish. Unless a person is on the dole or otherwise benefiting from the situation, I just can't figure out some of the comments. One plus One doesn't equal three as is the only way I can fathom the logic.

 

[QC]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

I've become a believer that the media drives gas prices as much as anything.

Oil is a global commodity. Prices swing for all kinds of reasons, and they swing globally at the same time. Oil goes up, gas price rise in the US petrol rises in Australia, and diesel rises in the UK. How'd the media do that? A better question to ask yourselves is "why do gas prices ever go down?" Seems to simplify the arguments to me

And yes, I know petrol and gasoline are the same thing depending on how you feel about corn . . . :facepalm:

 

[QC]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Not political

It's "social controversy" to argue whether a topic is political, so we can find other ways to close these threads . . . We are sneaky little Modulators. Heck, I posted here regarding oil prices and that never goes well. Keep it light guys and we won't have to add stress worrying about what posts and threads are borderline

 

[sam60]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Of course you are and no one is going to buy that you aren't. As to going down hill, no, every indication is that we are recovering (Slowly I grant you) from the Republican disaster of the previous administration. Oh, "that's not being politcal" either.

A perfect example of how divided we have become. Keep looking for who/when caused this.............

 

[sam60]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

Sorry but there is no real need to look, the facts pretty much speak for themselves. Like to admit it or not, the US and Americans have been on a borrowing binge for decades and now its come home to roost. I was shocked while watching CNN last week an an economist said American's should stop trying to save and spend more.

Yep, that is crazy. What shocked me 10-15 years ago was seeing young people buy $150-300K houses with 2 new cars, toys and paying daycare fees.........CHARGE IT!~

EDIT-

A Chicken in every pot and everyone should have a house of thier own,....:facepalm:

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

High Gas prices really have a negative effect on the economy in general. Everything delivered by a vehicle goes up in price. Everything made with petrol goes up in price. Every vacation goes up in cost. All business travel goes up in cost. All services that use vehicles go up in price. People have less money to spend on other things that would stimulate the economy. I have seen the economy rise and fall with gas prices. We have been in this roller coaster ride since oil started trading on the futures market. Remember the good old days with 99 cent gas?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Is Anybody as Stress Out as Me?

I remember the OPEC "oil shortage" of the 70's and everyone said we HAD to become energy independant. (Remember the 55 MPH speed limits?) Then oil / prices fell a bit and that idea was quickly forgotten.

Thanks for the memory.......... odd and even days........gas lines........ yes I remember.