By Bob
Brewster
In 1998, I published a book titled "Income Surfing" which
provided a formula for developing income over a broad base of
different sources.
Now,
here it is eleven years later. I am bringing up this fact because
in the book we referenced a chart called the "Social
Adjustment Rating Scale." This chart was the result of
research conducted in 1967 by two psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and
Richard Rahe who examined the medical records of over 5,000 medical
patients as a way to determine whether stressful events might cause
illnesses. In 1970, Rahe carried out another study on 2,500 sailors
to verify the first stress study as a predictor of illness. This
second study confirmed that the stress table was indeed correct and
it is still just as true today.
Why is this important to you?
In today's changing times, we are all experiencing pressures
from a multitude of directions. The source of these pressures
creates stress in our lives. Our actions or reactions to this
stress will determine how we react in our relationships with other
people.
As we age, stress affects us differently because of how we feel
about ourselves. Our ability to overcome stress changes with our
perception of our age. A major part of how we "feel"
involves our health. Our health is our most precious resource. It
needs to be protected to avoid creating a negative affect on the
rest of our life. In this time where health care is at the
forefront of the news, the best way to save money, now and
tomorrow, is to not spend money on avoidable health care
problems.
I have recreated the Social Adjustment Rating Scale Chart so that
all of you can see exactly where you need to place emphasis for
handling this stress and also what decisions you can make that will
help you live a better and more controlled life. This is important
because life moves in cycles. Sometimes things are perfect and
sometimes things are falling apart. How we handle these cycles
determines our ability to shorten the bad times and lengthen the
good times.
To give you an example of how important your understanding needs to
be for how stress affects your life, here's a little test. On a
separate piece of paper answer the following questions (The answers
will be found when you click on the chart link.)
(1) Are financial problems less or more stressful than a
divorce?
(2) Is a home foreclosure less or more
stressful than retiring from a job?
(3) Is getting fired or laid off from a job less or more stressful
than being arrested for a minor violation of the law?
(4)Is bankruptcy more or less stressful than getting
married?
(5) Is having an illness less or more stressful than a spouse that
loses his or her job?
Social
Adjustment Rating Scale Chart
Many of you will be startled at the answers, as well as where the
other stress factors fall in the chart scale. I hope this helps you
during these challenging times.
