Spread Too Thin

All about stress.

Hi Zan, Hi Pa
Volume #64

May 10th, 2026

HI, PA: Pretty soon I’ll be leaving the country for six weeks, and usually the days before a significant trip like this are pretty stressful as I try to knock a bunch of tasks off my to-do list. Which has me thinking about stress—beyond the medical definition of it, what is it and why is it such an issue for so many people?

HI, ZAN: I know only a few lucky souls for whom it’s not an issue. It comes in so many forms, large and small, and has an endless variety of causes—everything from the weather to serious medical diagnoses.

I think it’s an inescapable part of being alive in the modern world, though some people handle it much better than others. Maybe it comes simply from wanting things to be a certain way. You want your trip to go smoothly, and you know you can’t control that, so stress appears. If we’re short on money, we want to be able to escape that situation, to pay our bills, so stress appears. Could it always stem from that wanting, or are there other sources?

ZAN: I think sometimes stress can come from (and bring attention to) parts of your life that are unhealthy. In this way it’s actually helpful. Maybe you’re more stressed about work than usual because you’re in an unhealthy relationship, or you feel like your body is in fight or flight mode because you haven’t been getting enough sleep.

Anxiety is another factor, and I think that has a lot in common with the cause you’re talking about. Having fear about the future and desperately wanting a certain outcome both have roots in the same painful reality of human life: the fact that so much of what happens is both unknown and beyond our control.

Have you ever felt stressed out because of that?