I'm always struck by the physical aging of presidents in the White House. Within their first term, it seems like you truly see the effects of the job, especially in their graying hair.
Presidents are of the age where we are graying anyway, but I know that both Clinton and George W. Bush seemed to gray very very fast once in office. I have never understood how something like graying -- which is so genetic -- is affected by stress, but I'm learning that everything is affected by hormones, and stress can make all our hormones go nuts at times.
The job that Barack Obama has cut out for him going into the office seems so huge. He has high priorities on every plate -- international affairs, the Middle East, domestic affairs, health care, education and now the economic crisis. Any one of those could cause a person enough stress to affect them deeply, and he's in charge of our efforts on all of them.
Alison, I'm convinced that what you say is true, however -- for the most part, the work we actively seek is work that we're well suited for. I had a high-stress job in a newsroom and was at my best when things were going crazy. There is a time when your instincts take over, and if you're in the right job, it's a very fulfilling thing. If you're in the wrong job and it's high-stress, I would guess it's easily twice as stressful, and twice as harmful psychologically and physically.
We often saw Clinton and, later, Bush jogging with the press corps. I wonder if Obama's security team and his press corps are practicing their pickup basketball games, of which he's apparently a huge fan!
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I'm always struck by the physical aging of presidents in the White House. Within their first term, it seems like you truly see the effects of the job, especially in their graying hair.
Presidents are of the age where we are graying anyway, but I know that both Clinton and George W. Bush seemed to gray very very fast once in office. I have never understood how something like graying -- which is so genetic -- is affected by stress, but I'm learning that everything is affected by hormones, and stress can make all our hormones go nuts at times.
The job that Barack Obama has cut out for him going into the office seems so huge. He has high priorities on every plate -- international affairs, the Middle East, domestic affairs, health care, education and now the economic crisis. Any one of those could cause a person enough stress to affect them deeply, and he's in charge of our efforts on all of them.
Alison, I'm convinced that what you say is true, however -- for the most part, the work we actively seek is work that we're well suited for. I had a high-stress job in a newsroom and was at my best when things were going crazy. There is a time when your instincts take over, and if you're in the right job, it's a very fulfilling thing. If you're in the wrong job and it's high-stress, I would guess it's easily twice as stressful, and twice as harmful psychologically and physically.
We often saw Clinton and, later, Bush jogging with the press corps. I wonder if Obama's security team and his press corps are practicing their pickup basketball games, of which he's apparently a huge fan!
January 5, 2009 - 11:40amThis Comment
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