In the last two days, 4 different people have either told me that I look tired or stressed out. The funniest comment I thought was by Mahavir. I was walking home at night near the DAC and Mahavir was walking towards me. As we approached each other he says, “You look very tired.” Ofcourse this gives me the perfect opportunity to launch into my usual complaints about the amout of work I have and the lack of sleep. He says, “No, you just look tired with life!” I looked down, smiled and said, “Yes…yes, that is true too.” The others to comment also perhaps noticed that I looked stressed, and mentioned so.

I wonder how I look when I look stressed? Is it substantially different from how I look otherwise? Or how am I percieved when I am relaxed?

When I am “relaxed” I’m just not doing as much. I feel more productive now, when I’m constantly trying to play catch up to work. But I also don’t have the time to pursue things I may want to otherwise. I’m just trying to figure out whether I’m happier being “stressed”, eating less, sleeping less, and in general being less healthy. Or am I better of being relaxed, but being an insomniac, doing less, being upset about not doing enough, but having the time to allow my mind to grow laterally?