YOUNG VOICE
The monster in me
I stared at the sloppy-looking monster in front of me. It had hideous drooping eyes that showed sleepless nights. I took a step closer at the creature with untamed hair. Its breath smelled of caffeine and chocolate malt drink.
What on earth was I doing staring at my own reflection that way? I was having a private dialogue with my monster self. I was asking it how it became a slave to two demanding masters --- stress and pressure.
What is stress and what is pressure? Students with their exams, businessmen transacting market deals, policemen catching criminals, corrupt government officials practicing their false rationalizations, to name a few. These make people need more stimulants and tonic drinks.
I could not imagine a world that is not busy, disorganized, messy and terribly stressed and pressured. The use of traffic lights, digital organizers, alarm clocks, instant noodles and night lamps will all be rubbish, if that happens.
We will soon have our finals period. It will be about exams and requirements, thereby causing anxiety.
There were moments that I just want to stop. Pressure fills up to the brim until it overflows. Translation: nervous breakdown. Stress steps on you until your pain receptors are stimulated. They won't stop to press on until it hurts and the blood clots. Translation: strangling yourself. But, without all of these, school, work and life would be insignificant. I would not feel the same comfort as I jump on my comfy bed after a tiring day at school if irritating and unannounced exams didn't exist. I would not feel the same satisfaction as I see my grades after a brain-wrecking week of finals. I would not feel the same pleasure as I sniff off the aroma of hot chocolate drink if I cease to stay awake very late with a huge pile of reviewers to consume. Pressure and stress break your bones and squash your brain, but give you the chance to feel the pain. Translation: balance.
Each one has his or her own deadlines to beat. But as my old friend leprechaun says, there's always a pot of gold after a rainbow. The nice thing about man's stressed and pressured life is the will to continue amid everything; the hope and the trust that everything will turn out okay in the end. However, a lot give in and let such hectic fate take control. I may have such little treasures of experiences but I suppose it all relies on one's view of the situation. Optimism is not eccentricity. It is looking forward. That after an hour and a half of a one-hundred-fifty-item final exam, comes a summer vacation filled with watching television, beach excursions, mango shakes and sleeping until one in the afternoon.
I look at the mirror for the nth time. Those droopy sulking eyes deserve some extended hours of sleep. Those reddened and lumping pimples deserve some pampering and treatment. Stress and pressure need a vacation, too.
Every body gets stressed out.
But then, a diamond was previously coal made good under pressure.
(For comments and reactions please send SMs to 09186363090 or an email to reylangarcia@gmail.com. View my blog at http://www.theyoungvoice.blogspot.com)