Stress is a strange thing.  Something immediate like being attacked by a tiger does not cause stress, but triggers the fight or flight response.  The stress comes later!  As we go about our lives our resolve is stretched like a rubber band, further and further and the stress increases over time with every added challenge.  This tension has to ease off, or the rubber band will snap!  When I used to drink too much, a good whiskey always took the edge off, and facilitated relaxation and calm.  Now I have to find it elsewhere, and I have learned it is not social media or TV!  Those things just pull on the rubber band some more!  I have my dogs, and reading, and coffee and tea, and food.  It is not enough so I walk, and ride a bicycle and go to the gym.  It is still not enough. My soul requires something more that I cannot define - it is not god, he does not like me, it is not drugs or booze, maybe it is love, or something entirely unknown.  Until then I'll sip on ice water in my old whiskey cup and ponder the question. It might lead to more poems and stories, which is good for me.

The feeling comes from deep below,
it creeps up my spine to my brain, where it grow.
It settles in my mind, after spinning around,
like a sleepy dog, turning to prepare the ground.

My thinking slows and my world view changes
from what I now know to something I’ve missed for ages.
I take another sip from this cup of wonderful brew
and savor the restored peace the world today withdrew.

Another few sips and the edge of reality
gets dulled and rounded in absolute totality!
I feel the tension leave and my soul loving the reprieve.
Stress and frustration float away like dust by the wind blown,
why, oh why I’m not allowed to drink at work will forever be unknown!