This month is Women’s History Month, and as discussions of women’s importance spread, so too do discussions of women’s health. Throughout history, there have been certain risks and conditions that affect women more so than men. Many of these risks are influenced by a multitude of factors, including stress and mental health.
Many women suffer from undue stress and feeling the need to hold it in or minimize their own needs can not only cause mental health issues but can make physical health issues worse as well. To help raise awareness of women’s health, Sherman urgent care wants to talk about how women, and those in their lives, can help to alleviate the harmful stress they might experience.
When we find ourselves overwhelmed or feeling unwell, many of us might try to hide it. Whether we don’t want to worry anyone around us or we’re trying to power through a difficult work week, anyone can mask sniffles, coughs, or an achy feeling from time to time.
Women, though, are more likely to hide their illnesses frequently, which can increase their health risks. Traditionally, women are seen as caretakers in the family, and this preconception makes them more likely to try “toughing it out” instead of seeking care. Whether it be working long shifts during a cold or even hiding symptoms of the flu and pretending that they are fine, many women will try to work through infections.
When women hide their sickness, they can make themselves more likely to be seriously ill in the future. Hiding symptoms can make it harder to tell when a cough is just a cold or something serious like bronchitis. This makes it crucial for not only women to properly care for themselves, but also for friends and family members to encourage women to get the rest they need.
While it is easy to see how hiding symptoms of an illness can be bad for your health, it might be harder to tell why stress is such an influential factor. After all, everyone feels stressed sometimes, and small amounts of stress can be natural motivations for people to get things done. But not all stress is normal, and when someone feels overwhelmed, it is important that they have an outlet or people to confide in.
Similar to the tendency to hide symptoms of common illnesses, many women are also prone to hiding severe stress. When women feel overwhelmed or especially stressed about something, they may try to carry on as if everything is fine. This can be harmful to mental health as well as physical health, as unresolved stress can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of serious conditions like heart attacks or strokes.
Since it is so important for women to not only express their stress and get the TLC they need while they’re sick, there are things that everyone in the family can do to help. Friends, family, and women themselves can all try some of the following to help lighten the load of internalized stress and illness.
Making women and their well-being a priority in your home can go a long way to helping with stress relief and proper care for illnesses. When everyone in the family knows how to be aware, they can work together to make sure that mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and even friends take care of themselves.
Well done! Witty, zippy, a strong emphasis on the value of actual research. Montell addresses many of the topics that make so many cranky these days: all the things that are primarily ascribed to women or girls, of course. A bit of intersectionality, although without losing focus on the core theme. A good overview of linguistics for those who aren't already familiar with the field.
I just read through thirteen pages of definitions and examples on Urban Dictionary, a staggering number seemingly by offended men, which fail to mention Solnit's essay "Men Explain Things To Me", or the first recorded appearance of the word on LiveJournal, and also fail to provide a usable definition or an appropriate example. One entry appeared to conflate "manspaining" with "manspreading". The irony, it burns.
Library copy
In response to calls and emails from friends, clergy, and strangers who are in utter despair and even deep depression in these political times, I’ve created ninety daily devotions to provide a daily spoonful of hope and encouragement, a healing balm for justice-seeking believers and social activists.
When I elected to read this book, I expected to encounter peaceful yet instructive readings about justice, with reassurances that in spite of the injustice extant in our world today, Jesus is our refuge and the One whose examples we need to follow to effect lasting change. However, the title is a misnomer because I felt anything but peaceful while reading, and although these readings are listed as meditations on the cover, they are referred to as devotions in the book description and are categorized as such on retailer websites. Each day begins with a Scripture verse, but aside from that, there are very few that I would classify as devotions. Rather, “Rest for the Justice-Seeking Soul” is a clarion call to fight. The problem is that Williams Smith places most of the emphasis on us and our power as opposed to God’s power working within us, but the truth is that we can do nothing without Christ (John 15:5). She states that “God needs for us to seek God so we will be able to go and ‘hope’ somebody,” but our purpose is to glorify God. God doesn’t “need” us. To suggest that He does implies that He has weakness and disqualifies Him from being God. We also don’t “sap evil of its strength”; Christ’s power working within and through us does.
Throughout the 90 readings, the author’s working seemed off-kilter to me, hindering interpretation. In a few cases I thought I could see the point that the author was trying to make, but it could be easily misinterpreted. For instance, in day 4 she remarks that “It is in the darkness that our strength is made stronger, that our arguments become more pointed and vivid, and that our words become more inspiring, because only in the darkness can we ‘see’ places that we cannot see when we are in the light.” But I would argue that Jesus is the light of the world, and when we encounter darkness we should shine light on the darkness. Darkness does not enable us to see, nor does it strengthen us. God’s light does that. Growth does not occur in darkness as the author claims; through darkness, perhaps, but not in it, and neither does darkness give us power or life, which come from the Lord alone.
Theological issues throughout “Rest for the Justice-Seeking Soul” disturbed me. This is considered a Christian book, but I found multiple ideas that go against God’s Word. The author references historical figures who “held on to God while simultaneously rejecting Christianity” and were strengthened by God, but it is Jesus who saves us. There is no God without Christianity; they are mutually inclusive. The author presents this dangerous idea that even if we reject God, we are still His children and He is with us (Emmanuel), but those who have never accepted Christ as their Savior or who have rejected Him outright do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. Furthermore, Williams Smith perpetuates the concept that “To be a peacemaker is to radically stand in faith, be it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or any other brand…In the name of the God whom we claim as our divine Parent, now is the time to covenant to be a peacemaker, no matter the cost. Too much is at stake.” Steve Ham, in an Answers in Genesis article from December 3, 2010 entitled “What is a True Peacemaker?”, refutes this by saying, “There is no such thing as peace at any cost. The gospel message is about both repentance of sin and salvation from judgment through Christ. It is not a feel-good message of misdirected love and tolerance.” Romans 12 also speaks to being a loving peacemaker.
According to the author, deception is at times necessary for survival and is okay as long as we “get in touch with our true selves” and “look to God for enough ingestion of God’s spirit not to betray others or ourselves.” However, if we are deceiving, then we are betraying God. She claims that the good news of the Gospel is that God is with us and always there, as opposed to the “self-serving principle that merely provides us with assurance that we are safe from eternal damnation.” While I agree that God is indeed steadfast and faithful, this “self-serving principle” is the priceless gift of our eternal salvation, for which He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on our behalf. Far from being the defiant activist Who “was not willing to ‘grin and bear it’”, He allowed Himself to be crucified and oppressed for us after living here on earth with us and showing us how to live.
White supremacy and racism are repeatedly discussed. Blanket statements such as saying that “white religious people” support racism, however, do not advance the cause. I absolutely agree that both institutions are wrong and should not exist, and I believe that working to eradicate them is a worthy and necessary endeavor. My issue is with the author’s approach and with what appears to be a mixed-bag of theological concepts that often distort God’s Word and promote the idea that as long as you stand for a religion, any religion, in faith, you are a peacemaker. Social activism is a loaded topic, but we are never going to find a better approach than that of Jesus. Praise God for the truth of John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
I received a complimentary copy of this book through CelebrateLit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 19
CarpeDiem, December 20
Artistic Nobody, December 21 (Author Interview)
Just the Write Escape, December 22
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 23
Simple Harvest Reads, December 24 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, December 25
All 4 and About Books, December 26 (Author Interview)
For the Love of Literature, December 27
My Devotional Thoughts, December 28 (Author Interview)
janicesbookreviews, December 29
A Reader’s Brain, December 30
Through the Fire Blogs, December 31 (Author Interview)
Inklings and notions, January 1
I finished this one and it took forever because I didn't like it. And then I more or less immediately started English Lit Relit. It could have been a bad choice: if I was just tired of Armour's sameness, then another would have been an awful idea.
But I'm really enjoying English Lit. Yeah, my degree is in English lit, so I know more about the topic, which probably helps some. That isn't the big difference though. The big difference, in my considered and re-considerd opinion, is that Armour doesn't know as much about communism and/or Russian history.
In Marx the jokes rarely rise above "he was short". So, not quality humor.That's both terribly obvious and not actually amusing.
English Lit, though, that's his specialty. So the jokes are more clever, more subtle, and for that matter, probably better auditioned and rehearsed. It's easy to imagine Armour the Professor lecturing on early English poets. You're plowing through a thousand years of literature in a semester, your text is a fat, heavy Norton Anthology printed on tissue paper to fit in as many pages a possible. Some of it is familiar, or stirring, or new to you, but much of it is just a tedious droning on and on about the same tired symbolism and such. You maybe get something three things that stopped being amusing a couple of centuries back, and once in the whole class if you're lucky there's something that really amuses you. In that setting a lighthearted lecture, or a throw-away line, can really wake you back up.
So, that was an interesting thing to realize.
Library copy