“We are going to need America’s children to rise to their best in the years to come, because a nation of adult-children cannot be a nation of self-governing people.
“A plea for self-discipline and self-control is the one and only dignified alternative to discipline and control from without. For in this broken world of lawless souls, there will be control; there will be government. Order-seeking and security-seeking people, as well as those in search of power for their own purposes, will invariably seek to hold back the chaos of the world. The question is whether people will control themselves or submit to the control of others.” Ben Sasse
When I was a college student in my thirties, I found a couple simple ways for dealing with stress. And not to brag, but my stress was significant.
I had a part-time job as a bank teller, and yes, that’s a stressful job. I was a single mother dealing with the aftermath of an antagonistic divorce, a leaky roof, and a car that somehow seemed invisible to other drivers who would periodically hit it with their cars.
Stress-relief 101 included a more than once a week walk through the grocery store. These trips were not the weekly restocking of my larder, in which my five children typically participated thereby generally ensuring the opposite of stress relief. My solo store visits were brief times at the end of classes. They included listening to benign music and unwinding while making a few small purchases mostly involving comfort foods. Continue reading “The Vanishing American Adult”