UnnecessaryStress - A Personal Message from Val Zans

There has never been a more stress-ridden society than ours. That in part has contributed to America becoming the most over-medicated country in the world.

About 130 million Americans swallow, inject, inhale, infuse, spray, and topically apply prescribed medications every month.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country and are in fact the most over-medicated people in all of human history!

Big Pharma racked-up more than $250 billion worth of sales last year. To put that figure in perspective, that roughly equaled sales at all of the country's gas stations combined!

To look at it another way, it means that $850 was spent on prescription drugs for every American.

So here we are supposedly living the American Dream, the ethos of a land in which life should be better, richer, and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

A Dream which the founding fathers declared in the United States Declaration of Independence that ... "certain truths be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Thomas Wolfe said, "...to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity ... the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever his manhood and his vision can combine to make him."

Whatever happened to this beautifully exquisite Dream? How did America ever get from once being a shining beacon to the world, steeped in freedoms and seemingly unlimited opportunities, to a country which appears to be so dysfunctional that it's awash in prescription drugs for every imaginable malady?

Some say, that the American Dream has become nothing more than the pursuit of material property. That we have become stressed-out over working longer hours and living beyond our means so that we can get the "stuff" that we want right away ... instant gratification regardless of the consequences, or as George Carlin so succinctly put it ..."the whole meaning of life is to find a place to keep your stuff."

But what we have noticed, especially in the last year, is an appreciably increasing rate of people who are not only stressed-out, but also transitioning into other disorders such as panic attacks, anxiety disorders, and depression, but not from wanting to accumulate more and more "stuff."

Rather, people have become fearful of losing their jobs and are now forced to downsize their expectations. They are concerned about the state of the economy, bank failures, corporate bailouts, government spending, diseases such as H1N1, health care reform, the tigtening of credit by lenders, and the psychopaths in suits on Wall Street being handsomely rewarded with millions of dollars in bonuses, funded by tax-payer bail-out money, while Main Street can't even get a sniff of relief.

They worry about their own financial setbacks and future, difficulties in remortgaging their homes, helping with their children's tuition, and their own personal relationships which are breaking down and tearing apart.

The American Dream is quickly dying as stress has become a way of life; it is now the rule rather than the exception.

Many have even stopped dreaming of what is possible as they scramble just to survive.

Small wonder that the data developed by the massive Global Burden of Disease study conducted by the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and Harvard University clearly shows that mental illness, including suicide, ranks second in established market economies such as the U.S.

That is reality but so is this.

Though you may not be able to change or control the circumstances of the world around you, you can still take immediate control of what goes on within you. You do not have to allow the world to spin you around in a vortex of debilitating stress, depression, or anxiety, with a pocket full of pills or potions to bring you down.

There is no reason in the world why you shouldn't be able to feel the sun on your face, instead of locking yourself in your own home, because you have developed agoraphobia and now do not feel safe in public places.

You can definately overcome depression ... and your life can become meaningful and enjoyable. You do not have to spend the rest of your life in the shadows, constantly medicated, hoping that one day things will be OK. The "state of being OK" does not just happen through hope alone, but through your conscious decision to take action. For it is your decisions and actions which are the bridge between where you are and where you want to be.

As much as we would sometimes like to believe in the possibility of an "instant remedy" for our challenges, the reality is that there are no "tricks" or an "easy method" to instantly cure panic attacks. There are no so called "secrets" that can permanently cure anxiety. And there certainly are no "magical potions or formulas" that will cure depression.

The road to recovery takes work and depends on your willingness to invest in yourself.

Are you prepared to invest in learning about how to best overcome your challenges? There's always an answer if you're commited to finding it.

Are you prepared to make the decision to take the necessary actions to eliminate unnecessary stress, panic attacks, anxiety disorders or depression from your life forever? You already know that you cannot make progress without making decisions.

Have you reached the point where enough is enough and now you want to run your own life instead of letting life run you?

Are you open to new ideas on how to improve the quality of your life through changes which are lasting and consistent ... or is your life a closed door?

Ideas can change your life. If you understand that even the smallest and simplest new idea has the potential to massively improve the quality of your life, in ways that you might not have even imagined, then all you need is the strength of purpose to open the door.

However good or bad your life has turned out to be up to this point, the results which you have produced in life could not have happened without your consent and participation. Afterall it is you who is living your life and so your life cannot be anything other than the sum total of the ideas, beliefs, decisions and choices which you have made.

But new ideas can lead to new beliefs of what is possible, which in turn can then lead to new actions, which produce new reactions and then new results.

On the other hand, if you are unwilling to look at new ideas and changing parts of your belief system then you will have to settle for continuing to be who you currently are.

If you are stressed-out ... you can change that! If you suffer from anxiety disorders ... you can change that! If you are depressed ... you can change that!

Afterall, you're not an inanimate object!

If you go to work on changing your life so that you no longer have to suffer through stress with distress, panic attacks, anxiety, or depression, then life will go to work on changing you and produce new and measureable results.

Whatever good things you build in your life will end up building you!

To help those of you who have already made the decision to take action, please keep visiting our web site or take advantage of our RSS feed. We will strive to always be a rich information resource because the information and knowledge which you don't aquire cannot help you in overcoming your challenges.

Also our new upcoming Stress is the Spice of Life audio blogcast series will focus on providing specific strategies that you can use immediately to produce the results which you are committed to achieving.

Twice a month you will be able to listen on your computer or download the series to your iPod through iTunes free of charge.

In the new year we will also be presenting a second information and strategy series through video blogcasts.

I would like to thank all those kindred spirits from around the world who visit with us each and every day. To them I say, know in your heart that no matter how challenged you may now be, you have the power and ability to change anything and everything in your lives.

Stress with distress, panic attacks, anxiety disorders and depression need not be a part of your life nor define who you are.

Keep inquiring, keep learning, and never believe or accept that something is impossible. Expect, receive, and enjoy both the tiny and giant miracles which will undoubtedly happen along the way.

Do not fear the road which you are currently walking for it can be a teacher rather than a threat. Learn the lessons which the twists and turns, the potholes and ditches teach. Be confident in knowing that you have the innate ability to overcome anything that you encounter along the way.

Take simple and meaningful steps each and every day and you will be surprised at just how quickly you get to where you want to be.

And also know that it will always be the journey on the roads of your life where you will experience life to its absolute fullest.

Life is a gift and a joy. Live it with gratitude and with victory!

Val Zans

PS: Remember to always be good to yourselves!

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Depression treated by Hope Therapy

When you Eliminate Unnecessary Stress, you create a life of Balanced Success with greater fulfillment, love, pleasure, and joy!

So go ahead ... Make Your Day!