Article 3: Perception of Stress

(Masculinity & Anti-Fragility)

Stress is an ongoing issue for those living in this modern society that engulfs the Western world.

Stress is often demonized as a primary if not the sole hinderance to one’s health as well as one’s prosperity.

However, when one takes a look at stress itself, it takes on many forms as well as many perceptions.

Telling a man who has to juggle a 9-5 job, a marriage, fatherhood, and his own personal development that stress is what is killing him is counter-intuitive to his day to day goals, as such a statement would cause him to demonize his own efforts to support those around him.

When analyzing the day to day lives of men who manage stress well, there tends to be an unspoken understanding that stress is a part of life and is an avenue for growth.

First responders, soldiers, and athletes who have grown successful in their professions have all attributed their success in some amount to the scenarios that they found pressured them into becoming capable of success in the first place.

In analyzing the extreme end of stress, it would appear that the commercial narrative of stress being a merciless demon that must be avoided all costs is at least partially fabricated for the sake of profit and potentially nefarious motives.

When taking a step back, it is likely that most people know an individual who is living a “stressful” life and is vocally crumbling under the pressure of its circumstances and has visible deterioration in health, stemming from their negative response to stress. It is also likely that most people know an individual who is living a “stressful” life but seems to be subduing their respective stressors and conquering each day despite their given circumstances.

So what makes one man break and the other man grow stronger?

There are certainly a number of physical factors one can point to: testosterone levels and heart rate variability. But dissecting each of these physical factors either paints a picture that is not as conclusive as one may think.

Testosterone in the Western world is in decline due to a number of factors: micro plastics, fluorescent lighting, endocrine disrupters, chemical exposure, seed oils, the list goes on. When one is aware of this however, one can take the necessary measures to minimize or even eliminate these assassins of testosterone from one’s life. Then there are the more obvious testosterone-building practices like optimal sleep, anabolic state-inducing exercise, and sufficient nutrition. This is testosterone simplified.

Heart rate variability, which is literally the variation of duration between heart rates has been identified by scientists as a measuring stick for whether one is prone to various forms of heart disease or diabetes. In the context of stress management, increased heart rate variability has been identified by the United States military industrial complex as a key factor in identifying whether a man breaks or grows under pressure. Heart rate variability can be increased by various forms of high intensity or “anaerobic” forms of both cardio-vascular and muscle endurance-building exercise. This is heart rate variability simplified.

However, these two cultivated abundances can be counteracted by the secretion of cortisol. Cortisol has been identified as a destroyer of testosterone itself and will often erode one’s mental state and limit one’s endurance regardless of one’s level of heart rate variability.

Cortisol is a powerful hormone in its key context: as a steroid hormone that enables one to jolt into action in order to survive impending danger. If one were to be chased by a tiger, cortisol would be a useful hormone in summoning the mental and physical intensity to think of the best course of action to survive and execute said course of action without hesitation. In terms of duration, cortisol is useful in instances that are as long as sprints. Cortisol is not a hormone to be used in long, extended periods of time, yet the common man experiences such a life where cortisol is secreted without pauses for hours, days, and even weeks at a time. This contributes to one’s tangible “stress.”

So why is cortisol so commonly secreted amongst the common men of today?

Life for many is perceived to be a stressful endeavor in which one feels the need to psychologically “survive,” when perceiving life as “stressful.”

The man who woke up 2 hours late, leaving him with only five minutes for himself before needing to wake up his wife and children, drive his children to school on his way to work, go to work immediately after to sit at a desk in a quiet desperation that he is already behind on his tasks to blitz through them in order to catch up, run to the bank during lunch, sit in a meeting with divided attention, pick up his children from school after a half measure of a workout that ended in a dissatisfied huff of having to stop mid-set, and go home to be with his wife without ever properly existing as a human being is a man who is psychologically surviving the attack that time itself is bringing.

When it comes to managing time in a day, organization would prevent one from the feeling that time is attacking one’s self causing a psychological reaction of survival, therefore secreting cortisol. When time is managed correctly, with one being ahead of schedule, there is no silent assailant in one’s life and no need to cortisol to be released.

But perhaps, for argument sake that one has optimized their testosterone through both elimination the of testosterone-inhibitors and the cultivation of testosterone-boosting practices, has increased heart rate variability through endurance-based exercise, and has organized life to never be attacked by time causing preventable cortisol releases, but has experienced an inevitable new “stressor.”

Perhaps, there is a period of time ahead where despite all the aforementioned practices being in check, the schedule of one’s life is so dense that it looks daunting and “stressful,” just to look at.

The only possible prevention of cortisol and therefore, “stress,” is to not perceive it as stressful at all.

This appears to be the case for greats in fields of philosophy, combat sports, and military operations.

Marcus Aurelius is famed for his writings on stoicism, as he embodied them in continuing to refuse to let his mental state be dictated by external factors despite having to rule the Roman Empire in a time of war while enduring the loss of his own son. These writings of stoicism have caused many to eliminate the emotional effects of external factors in their lives.

Former UFC champion Kamaru Usman has described the anxiety of the hours before a title fight as “all-consuming” yet an anxiety and variety of emotions that he has “made friends with,” in order to not fold under pressure.

Jocko Willink has sold thousand of pieces of merchandise with the single word, “good,” in reference to his response to when things do not go according to plan. Jocko break down this mindset further in his book titled, “Discipline Equals Freedom,” stating that plans breaking down are opportunities for “bullet-proofing” how one makes plans in the first place and opportunities to reap benefits of unfavorable shifts given circumstances.

Willink’s mindset can be defined as “anti-fragile,” a quality that Lebanese author, Nassim Taleb wrote an entire text about. When something or someone is fragile, it breaks down with the introduction of pressure or randomness. When something is the opposite of fragile, it grows when introduced to pressure and randomness and therefore gains from disorder or situations that are “stressful.”

To perceive “stressful” situations as stressful is to mentally panic and give in to the high cortisol state and all of the health detriments that come with it that are causing health issues and death across the world.

To perceive “stressful,” situations as opportunities for growth is to prevent cortisol spikes, grow stronger both physically and mentally, and to set one’s self up for success in organizing one’s time to minimize potential new threats of cortisol.

“The man who says he can, and the man who says he can’t are both correct.” -Confucius