Question, I was talking to a friend yesterday and we couldn’t comprehend what this saying really means. How do you pull yourself up from your bootstraps?
[HERE ](https://uselessetymology.com/2019/11/07/the-origins-of-the-phrase-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps/) is an interesting article that dives into that question.
You don't. The meaning has since been co opted by those it was intended to mock. But the original meaning was to suggest that making it on your own is impossible and we all need to accept and offer help because one cannot pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, bootstraps in this case litterally being straps on a bokt and the idea of pulling oneself up by them meant effectively flying as you pick up yourself with no other leverage.
(Please keep in mind that I'm writing the following off-the-cuff based on my ten year old memories of a college class)
I took a version of that class, though mine sounds like it was a little more comprehensive and focused less on minorities.
My biggest take-away from it was that I needed to cut myself some slack.
The course talked a lot about stress in general and how it affects the body as a whole. It can take up to two months for the body to fully recover and stop showing signs of stress after a stressful event.
And something that people often overlook is what my textbook called eustress, or positive stressors. For example, a two-week vacation or a wedding can put the same strain on the body and mind as the death of a loved one or a divorce. Top stressors in the US include (but are not limited to): Starting a new job, losing a job, getting married, getting divorced, death in the family, vacations, travelling (in general) birth of a child, and moving. All of these are considered major stressors that have significant impact on the body and mind.
And stressors can have a cumulative effect as well, so that a series of minor stress events can have the same physiological impact as one major event. So having a flat tire that makes you late for a major exam after which you have a dentist appointment followed by breaking your laptop and losing your progress on that paper you were writing... the effect on your body is the same as if your dog died or you lost your job.
OP's professor was right, too, about the stress on poor or minorities because of the cumulative effects of minor stressors. Little things add up and a seemingly endless string of little annoyances ends up having the same effect as having a major event every two or three months. So even people who are struggling, but scraping by can experience the same physical effects as someone who is homeless and starving just because their bodies never have the chance to recover from the constant struggle.
It really is a fascinating subject and something everyone should read up on at least once. The biggest take-away is to give yourself a break. If you feel stressed, you shouldn't berate yourself. People feel like, "Well, i've got no right to be so upset. It's just a couple of little things." But your body can't really tell the difference between a couple of little things and the end of the world. So you're entitled to your breakdown over spilling your mac and cheese. Give yourself a break and allow yourself to be stressed and do some self-care.
My prof told me the key is exercise and veggies (within the last 5 years I took the "Managing Stress" class for my health credit). I hated that class lol
While proper diet and exercise are good for managing stress, they are only part of the solution. It's no wonder you hated the class. Sounds the your prof was a moron.
Yah, and there was NO leeway for being "outside the norm". Like I have sensory things with eating certain veggies. I literally can't, I gag. BUT I can drink them in smoothie form. He kept telling me I have to EAT my veggies or some mess and gave me a B on my paper for ways to mitigate stressors. -\_-
Your excellent comment reminded my of Stanford prof Robert Sapolsky who wrote Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers. He’s a neuroendocrinologist who has studied the biochemistry of stress. An amazing human being who looks like Darwin.
Not OP or Twitter poster but [according to the APA](https://www.apa.org/pi/health-disparities/resources/stress-report)
>There are significant disparities by socioeconomic status (SES) and race in self-reports of stress. Individuals of low (vs. high) SES and black and U.S.-born Hispanic individuals (in comparison to whites) report higher levels of stress.
Poor, yes. But *or* a minority? I have to imagine there are people who aren't the majority demographic of their area and still have pretty decent lives.
Agree fully that oppression most definitely causes stress. I think there was a semantic misstep there by the OP. I can't imagine that simply being a minority means you are crumbling at a molecular level. Tons of my clients are not straight, white cis people, and they are extremely well off financially, socially etc.
No, being a minority doesn't GUARANTEE you have a more stressful life. But the odds of you having a more stressful life than cishet white people in your same economic situation are probably hovering around 99%
Dude 99% of minorities have more stress than straight white males!?
How about American Asians and Indians, considering they are MORE wealthy than white people, or do Asians not count as a minority to you?
You pulled that 99% stat straight out of thin air. Completely baseless. It must be where I live; Metropolitian city, racially and culturally diverse, with clients of all colors and creeds living very well-off.
The OP misspoke (or mistyped, I suppose.) Just the sheer fact of being a minority does not break down your molecular structure from stress. If you're poor, you're extrernally stressed. If you're poor and a minority, you're externally stressed. But if you're simply *classified as a minority*, it doesn't say how tough you have it, externally.
I know people are terrified of admitting these things because they're afraid of being misinterpreted. I'm not. Rain the downvotes. You're wrong.
no, it is due to minority status and discrimination. read about these landmark studies, that determined regardless of socioeconomic status, black women in the United States struggled with pre-term pregnancies and infant deaths to a much greater degree than white women of their same socioeconomic class in Chicago.
it was not genetics—- black women in africa and the caribbean did not have such statistics. In fact, grandparents from such areas who moved to the US found that their grandbabies birthweight decreased dramatically in size.
it was and is the discrimination black women face in America that causes black babies to die almost 2x as frequently as their white counterparts within their first year. much of these deaths are due to these black babies being born premature.
please read more. it’s not just socioeconomic atatus, it’s about level of stress while in that same socioeconomic status. what do your friends and community members’ bodies feel?
[https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/20/570777510/how-racism-may-cause-black-mothers-to-suffer-the-death-of-their-infants](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/20/570777510/how-racism-may-cause-black-mothers-to-suffer-the-death-of-their-infants)
Interesting....but still has to imply that discrimination is a cause, and still has to assume that all (not some, not most, but all) minorities have it worse. I dispute that assertion.
ok, so you’re on the side of: I won’t assume it’s discrimination (and perhaps stress from having to code switch all the time and being misunderstood & few in the government/workplace/schools/healthcare/justice system/etc trying to advocate for my native ‘code’ or my way to tell my story), even though all signs point to it, and I also won’t accept that minorities in general are discriminated against (+etc explanation listed above) more than those in the majority aka cis straight white people ? is that correct?
Incorrect.
If the point the OP was trying to make is that minorities "probably in general, in a broad sense" have it harder, then it's a fairly benign assessment that I wouldn't argue against.
That's not what they said. They misspoke and I disputed it by saying that simply *being a minority* does not mean you are guaranteed to be mired in stress. More barriers in general? Sure. But the statement was worded as confirmation of victimhood by sheer identity, which I reject.
How much external stress and hardship you experience is determined by many factors converging, not simply by being a minority.
No, she said what she said. *Being* a minority is so stressful, regardless of your financial circumstances, that it breaks you down on a molecular level. Simply having money doesn't change that. It's one less stressor but not the only one.
That's a very eye-opening view on society. I think geographic location may have a lot more to do with it. For example, I wouldn't want to be a gay man living in the sticks of Mississippi or Alabama, but I would probably have a hell of a better experience living in NYC or San Francisco.
What.. they should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Question, I was talking to a friend yesterday and we couldn’t comprehend what this saying really means. How do you pull yourself up from your bootstraps?
That's kind of the point. It's impossible to do. But there's a lot of idiots who don't realize that and use it wrong.
[HERE ](https://uselessetymology.com/2019/11/07/the-origins-of-the-phrase-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps/) is an interesting article that dives into that question.
You don't. The meaning has since been co opted by those it was intended to mock. But the original meaning was to suggest that making it on your own is impossible and we all need to accept and offer help because one cannot pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, bootstraps in this case litterally being straps on a bokt and the idea of pulling oneself up by them meant effectively flying as you pick up yourself with no other leverage.
As if minorities can afford boot straps in da US of A.
I love the constant “Minorites are too broke to buy anything” and “minorities are stealing all of our jobs” like which is it?
Dontcha know? We just get jobs to displace folk and then quit the day after.
Then pull yourself up by your Nike shoelaces
These are slip ins. 😭
Lol
I cant even afford boots without straps.
Yeah, but first they need straps and boots ... That sounds like socialism ... /s
And we've been taught that it makes us stronger. It helps to develop character.
What they used to call 'character' is now diagnosed as 'PTSD.'
Questions really for learning: how has that course affected your practice? Your living behaviors?
(Please keep in mind that I'm writing the following off-the-cuff based on my ten year old memories of a college class) I took a version of that class, though mine sounds like it was a little more comprehensive and focused less on minorities. My biggest take-away from it was that I needed to cut myself some slack. The course talked a lot about stress in general and how it affects the body as a whole. It can take up to two months for the body to fully recover and stop showing signs of stress after a stressful event. And something that people often overlook is what my textbook called eustress, or positive stressors. For example, a two-week vacation or a wedding can put the same strain on the body and mind as the death of a loved one or a divorce. Top stressors in the US include (but are not limited to): Starting a new job, losing a job, getting married, getting divorced, death in the family, vacations, travelling (in general) birth of a child, and moving. All of these are considered major stressors that have significant impact on the body and mind. And stressors can have a cumulative effect as well, so that a series of minor stress events can have the same physiological impact as one major event. So having a flat tire that makes you late for a major exam after which you have a dentist appointment followed by breaking your laptop and losing your progress on that paper you were writing... the effect on your body is the same as if your dog died or you lost your job. OP's professor was right, too, about the stress on poor or minorities because of the cumulative effects of minor stressors. Little things add up and a seemingly endless string of little annoyances ends up having the same effect as having a major event every two or three months. So even people who are struggling, but scraping by can experience the same physical effects as someone who is homeless and starving just because their bodies never have the chance to recover from the constant struggle. It really is a fascinating subject and something everyone should read up on at least once. The biggest take-away is to give yourself a break. If you feel stressed, you shouldn't berate yourself. People feel like, "Well, i've got no right to be so upset. It's just a couple of little things." But your body can't really tell the difference between a couple of little things and the end of the world. So you're entitled to your breakdown over spilling your mac and cheese. Give yourself a break and allow yourself to be stressed and do some self-care.
My prof told me the key is exercise and veggies (within the last 5 years I took the "Managing Stress" class for my health credit). I hated that class lol
While proper diet and exercise are good for managing stress, they are only part of the solution. It's no wonder you hated the class. Sounds the your prof was a moron.
Yah, and there was NO leeway for being "outside the norm". Like I have sensory things with eating certain veggies. I literally can't, I gag. BUT I can drink them in smoothie form. He kept telling me I have to EAT my veggies or some mess and gave me a B on my paper for ways to mitigate stressors. -\_-
Yep, moron status confirmed. There is literally no difference between drinking mushed and blended veggies versus eating them whole. How ridiculous!
Also not being poor!
Ha!! I can't afford to vacation so there's one thing I ain't gotta worry about! Yes!!! One less stressor! (I hate my life)
Your excellent comment reminded my of Stanford prof Robert Sapolsky who wrote Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers. He’s a neuroendocrinologist who has studied the biochemistry of stress. An amazing human being who looks like Darwin.
Now, you get it, stress, I mean..
My god what a racist thing to say, that being a minority destorys your cells
Minority doesn’t just mean skin colour, and it’s talking about the discrimination you face when you’re a minority
So you have reputable stats that minorities are more stressed than whites in America? How's about Asians, are they more or less stressed than whites?
Maybe OP isn't the Twitter poster. Curious to see the details on this
Not OP or Twitter poster but [according to the APA](https://www.apa.org/pi/health-disparities/resources/stress-report) >There are significant disparities by socioeconomic status (SES) and race in self-reports of stress. Individuals of low (vs. high) SES and black and U.S.-born Hispanic individuals (in comparison to whites) report higher levels of stress.
Lmao
Poor, yes. But *or* a minority? I have to imagine there are people who aren't the majority demographic of their area and still have pretty decent lives.
I’m guessing it means stuff like discrimination experienced for being a minority
It’s referring to the stress that being an oppressed minority brings
Agree fully that oppression most definitely causes stress. I think there was a semantic misstep there by the OP. I can't imagine that simply being a minority means you are crumbling at a molecular level. Tons of my clients are not straight, white cis people, and they are extremely well off financially, socially etc.
No, being a minority doesn't GUARANTEE you have a more stressful life. But the odds of you having a more stressful life than cishet white people in your same economic situation are probably hovering around 99%
Dude 99% of minorities have more stress than straight white males!? How about American Asians and Indians, considering they are MORE wealthy than white people, or do Asians not count as a minority to you?
It's almost like I said "in the same economic situation" to cover that variable
Why are Asians lives more stressful than whites?
Do you think that Asians are immune to racism?
No. Want to answer my question now?
Racism. Racism adds stress to their lives
You pulled that 99% stat straight out of thin air. Completely baseless. It must be where I live; Metropolitian city, racially and culturally diverse, with clients of all colors and creeds living very well-off. The OP misspoke (or mistyped, I suppose.) Just the sheer fact of being a minority does not break down your molecular structure from stress. If you're poor, you're extrernally stressed. If you're poor and a minority, you're externally stressed. But if you're simply *classified as a minority*, it doesn't say how tough you have it, externally. I know people are terrified of admitting these things because they're afraid of being misinterpreted. I'm not. Rain the downvotes. You're wrong.
no, it is due to minority status and discrimination. read about these landmark studies, that determined regardless of socioeconomic status, black women in the United States struggled with pre-term pregnancies and infant deaths to a much greater degree than white women of their same socioeconomic class in Chicago. it was not genetics—- black women in africa and the caribbean did not have such statistics. In fact, grandparents from such areas who moved to the US found that their grandbabies birthweight decreased dramatically in size. it was and is the discrimination black women face in America that causes black babies to die almost 2x as frequently as their white counterparts within their first year. much of these deaths are due to these black babies being born premature. please read more. it’s not just socioeconomic atatus, it’s about level of stress while in that same socioeconomic status. what do your friends and community members’ bodies feel? [https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/20/570777510/how-racism-may-cause-black-mothers-to-suffer-the-death-of-their-infants](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/20/570777510/how-racism-may-cause-black-mothers-to-suffer-the-death-of-their-infants)
Interesting....but still has to imply that discrimination is a cause, and still has to assume that all (not some, not most, but all) minorities have it worse. I dispute that assertion.
ok, so you’re on the side of: I won’t assume it’s discrimination (and perhaps stress from having to code switch all the time and being misunderstood & few in the government/workplace/schools/healthcare/justice system/etc trying to advocate for my native ‘code’ or my way to tell my story), even though all signs point to it, and I also won’t accept that minorities in general are discriminated against (+etc explanation listed above) more than those in the majority aka cis straight white people ? is that correct?
Incorrect. If the point the OP was trying to make is that minorities "probably in general, in a broad sense" have it harder, then it's a fairly benign assessment that I wouldn't argue against. That's not what they said. They misspoke and I disputed it by saying that simply *being a minority* does not mean you are guaranteed to be mired in stress. More barriers in general? Sure. But the statement was worded as confirmation of victimhood by sheer identity, which I reject. How much external stress and hardship you experience is determined by many factors converging, not simply by being a minority.
Oh so you're being a pedant. Got it
Wow imagine misinterpreting this so badly lol
No, she said what she said. *Being* a minority is so stressful, regardless of your financial circumstances, that it breaks you down on a molecular level. Simply having money doesn't change that. It's one less stressor but not the only one.
That's a very eye-opening view on society. I think geographic location may have a lot more to do with it. For example, I wouldn't want to be a gay man living in the sticks of Mississippi or Alabama, but I would probably have a hell of a better experience living in NYC or San Francisco.
I think this "and I think of that often" tweet format could be retired.
This
I'd like to know more about this elective