Coping with Pressure
Written by Bethany Williams
The grass is not always greener on the other side. For example, in the recent movie Encanto, the main character Mirabel greatly admires her sisters for the gifts they have. At one point in the movie, when Mirabel is speaking with sister Luisa who is admired for her great strength, Lusia shares more about her life through the song “Surface Pressure.” The song starts by her sharing she is the strong and tough one. Then, the chorus begins describing this enormous amount of pressure she feels,
“Under the surface
I feel berserk as a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus…
A flaw or a crack
The straw in the stack
That breaks the camel’s back
What breaks the camel’s back it’s
Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that’ll never stop, whoa
Pressure that’ll tip, tip, tip ‘till you just go pop, whoa-oh-oh
Give it to your sister, your sister’s older
Give her all the heavy things we can’t shoulder
Who am if I can’t run with the ball?
If I fall to…pressure….”
Let’s put the cards on the table and be honest. We all feel some type of pressure in our lives. Sometimes the pressure is internal pressure we put on ourselves and sometimes it is external.
There is a common narrative that once you get to the next stage of life, then you will be happy., “Once you graduate then…., once you have a job, once you are married, once you are a parent then….” However, if we are always anxiously waiting for the next phase of life and wishing to get out of the stage we are in now, we miss the gifts and opportunities of the present. Looking forward to the future is not a bad thing in and of itself. However, if we are so focused on the future or comparing ourselves to where someone else is when we are not there yet, we are robbing ourselves of joy. I fully believe this is exactly what Satan wants and that is why we need to fight to be counter-cultural, and to be intentional to enjoy the stage of life you are in now. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Part of practicing emotional wellness is recognizing our emotions (including sadness and anger that often get shoved under a rug) and then asking why we feel that way. This honestly feels a little awkward, but it helps us recognize triggers that we have. I mentioned how being content in the stage of life you are in can bring joy. Having joy does not mean that we are happy all the time. If we allow ourselves to slow down a little bit, we will find joy embraces peace, and contentment in whatever stage of life we are in even when we are going through trials. Life is full of the unexpected and part of what helps us grow (sometimes painfully) is learning from those unexpected things and leaning into the one who KNOWS all things.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-3
