I was part of a mixed-gender conversation, today, about how people handle stress. One man said he goes to his workshop area and builds something because hammering nails helps him get out whatever emotion he is harboring. One woman gave the predictable answer about eating chocolate, another man simply said he eats, and a woman said she buries herself in books to relieve stress. Interestingly, no one said they shop as a stress reducer. As I was driving home, I began thinking (There is that action again.) about how generations before us relieved their stress.
Previous generations had more opportunities to pound out their aggressions than, perhaps, we do now. Many women were homemakers and homemakers in earlier generations had far fewer appliances than we present-day women. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers did not have the luxury of the powered appliances that make our lives easier. Our great-grandmothers and their daughters had to haul carpets and rugs out-of-doors in order to beat out the dust and dirt. Remember homes with "shaker" porches? Laundry was done by hand and required hours of scrubbing with hot water, hand-made soap, lye and brushes. It was then hung to dry, outside if the weather allowed and who-knows-where inside if the weather was unsuitable for line-drying. All baked goods were beaten by hand, bread was kneaded by brute force and vegetables were cut one slice at a time. No fancy food processors or electric mixers with bread hooks.
Men had equal opportunities to release tensions with hand saws, hammering by hand, cutting crops, grass and weeds with sickles and scythes and what about the horse-drawn buggies, carriages, and wagons?
The modern grocery store didn't exist and freezers were just a dream in someone's brain. The "cold chest" was kept cold by huge chunks of ice.....ice that was cut by hand and stored in huge ice lockers that the homeowner could only hope lasted through the summer months.
It wasn't all that long ago that printing was still a type-set process, copy machines didn't exist and all of the men and women who had to use mimeograph machines would attest to the ink stains on their hands and clothing and the smell of the wet ink on the paper probably still remains in their olfactory memories. Typing also used to be an arduous task on the old manual typewriters, six of which I own, and I can testify to the challenge of typing and correcting mistakes.
I do believe that the physical act of hard work, whether it applied to inside the home, a business, or outdoor labor, afforded the humans who came before us a ready vehicle for releasing stress and pent-up energy. Although I must say, as I'm wading through all of the old family pictures from three and four generations ago, I do denote a dour and serious look on most of the faces that is not gender related at all. Everybody looks like they had plenty of stress and little reason to smile, whereas the pictures from my family's years show plenty of smiles.
Maybe having it easier does mean more smiling and less stress.
Hmmm. Another point on which to ponder.
Ancora imparo
