Feeling Stressed?

There's nothing too new in this article, but it's interesting to think about how our choices affect our stress levels. I wonder if we wrongly equate all stress with negative results and health problems -- of course those are valid concerns -- but when you set up your life to minimize all stress, you reduce opportunities for growth and challenge. Difficult, risky and uncomfortable experiences cause stress, but life would be pretty dull if you avoided anything that took you out of your comfort zone. Anyway, here's the article from CBC: Feeling stressed? You're not alone, new poll says.

Five Things You Didn't Know About Me

Doug at Proactive Living tagged me with the challenge to list five things you wouldn't know about me:

1. I've seen Metallica in concert...twice.
   
2. Instead of renting a car or cabbing it in Los Angeles this weekend, I bought a bicycle and put 50 miles on it...also took some photos along the way.
   
3. I raced competitive motocross (off-road motorcycles) for years, including events in arenas with 10,000 spectators watching...and won.
   
4. I've never really liked pets -- and sadly, I've noticed that this makes it difficult for pet owners to like me.
   
5. I have four active blogs (and several other lapsed ones): this one, my personal blog, my work/learning blog, and a song blog...all of which are in danger of lapsing. More if you count my Flickr photos or 43Things as other types of blogs.

Thanks for the tag, Doug -- I'm sometimes too serious over here, and this is a good reminder to be a real person behind the links and writing.

And now for my five tags, selected not because I necessarily think they will take the challenge, but because they have consistently challenged me to think. The common thread -- great writers tackling difficult material and really living it...then sharing what they're learning:

• Penelope, the Brazen Careerist
  
• Christian at think:lab (and his inspiring list)
  
• Chris at Parking Lot (and his excellent reply)
  
• Shamash at Shamash Says... (with yet another fantastic glimpse into her past)
  
• Jill at Legacy Matters (and her amazing response)

Note: I didn't tag my Vancouverite blog-friend Brian, but I loved his response to the tag as well. As if we've both seen Metallica twice! I'm just glad I didn't get shot at either time.

Disparity

40% of world's wealth owned by 1% of population...