The Similarities in Stress Levels Between Earthworms and PCVs - with a graph!

When we were preparing the worm bed for the garden, a Peace Corps staff member from the Agriculture group described the proper care and attention for the worms. He made it a point that we have to periodically stir the bed to evenly distribute soil/newspapers/desperdicios, encouraging the worms to roam freely throughout the whole bed. And we must place the bed in a cool, shaded spot. If we didn't do these things, he warned us, the worms would become estresados – stressed out. And those poor, stressed out little wormies would just hang out at the bottom of the bed and not eat anything or produce any humus because they were so, so stressed...just imagine, the weight of all that newspaper and soil and vegetable waste pressing down on them...

I had to laugh at the idea of an earthworm getting stressed out (I can't really picture it, can you?), but then I started empathizing with the little guys. And then it struck me—Come to think of it, people don't generally think of Peace Corps volunteers as “stressed out,” do they? Most people associate Peace Corps with things like adventure, excitement, and learning about new cultures, languages, and foods – and these things are all true. But they and stress are not mutually exclusive.

For one thing, adventure brings its own kind of stress. There's the experience of not knowing how to prepare for something because you have no concrete idea of what it is going to be like. I’m reminded of trying to pack my bags before coming to Ecuador, staring blankly at the packing list Peace Corps provided us, which was obviously generic yet somehow meant to simultaneously serve the needs of volunteers headed for snowy Ukraine, sunny Africa, coastal Ecuador, and probably the isolated Fiji Islands, too. (The result was that I didn’t start packing until the day before I left, nearly causing my poor mother to have a myocardial infarction.)

Then, once you do find yourself plopped down in the middle of the situation – thinking, Oh! so this is how people in Ecuador dress, and Oh! so this is what the weather is like on the equator, and Oh! so this is what guinea pig tastes like – then, there’s all the minor adjustments to daily life you have to make. Things like throwing toilet paper into a wastebasket instead of flushing it down the toilet (sounds gross, right? meh, you get used to it). Things like people answering their cell phones in the middle of a class or a meeting. Things like being expected to eat the entire heaping plate of rice your host mom just set in front of you. These things, benign in themselves, when combined can build to a breaking point. One day at the supermarket the security guard yelled at me because I attempted to enter the store wearing a backpack, which is supposed to be stowed in a locker; I started to cry. It was a last straw kind of thing, ya know?

Eventually, every volunteer learns to adapt just by being where they are: we come to know what we didn't before, the expectedly-unexpected becomes reality, and we find ways to deal with the cultural differences that boggle our minds. I should say, boggled our minds - past tense, because one of the most effective ways to acclimate to the little stuff is to participate until it becomes habit. If my phone rings and I'm in the middle of teaching a class and I don't answer it, everyone looks at me like I'm weird and a bad person. So I just answer it. Of course there are some cultural differences – attitudes and behaviors regarding gender roles or corporal punishment, for example – that may never, ever line up with an individual's personal beliefs. Especially a person who comes from a culture where the attitudes and behaviors regarding such topics are at the opposite end of the spectrum. And all of those things we can’t or won’t adapt to - let’s just throw those onto the stress pile, too.

So, why am I making you listen to the myriad ways Peace Corps volunteers can get stressed out? To see if you I can stress YOU out, of course.

Are you stressed yet?
Are you stressed yet?
Are you stressed yet?
Are you stressed yet?

I kid. My main point is threefold:

1) It is quite possible to be stressed out in the Peace Corps, in case you were wondering, and even if you weren’t.

2) In fact, it’s probably the norm to sustain SOME level of anxiety about SOMETHING for the majority of your service. Here’s a handy-dandy graph to illustrate:

3) We all have to find ways to adapt and adjust if we want to integrate into our communities, make a positive impact, and be successful volunteers during the two short years that we are here.

So, when push comes to shove comes to oh-my-gosh-what-the-heck-am-I-doing-here, how do we deal? Here’s a list of common stress relievers among PCVs in Ecuador:

Physical exercise. For me, this comes in the form of running. And let me tell you, I hated running for many, many years. I spent all of junior high frantically inventing ways to get out of the dreaded weekly mile-and-a-half run in P.E. It was, at that point in my life, the bane of my existence. And now? – I look forward to running six miles at the end of a busy day. Because if I’m going to throw a stomping temper tantrum out of frustration, I might as well check out the scenery at the same time.

Journaling. Lots of us journal. It’s a form of self-reflection, and of holding oneself accountable.

Creating something with your hands. Some people paint lovely portraits or landscapes on canvas; some people knit scarves, hats, and blankets; some people build their own furniture. I paint my toenails. Anything that’s absorbing in a way that transports you away from external distractions and into the what and how of whatever it is you’re creating.

Drinking. Not necessarily to excess, but I for one would be lying if I said I never looked forward to a cold beer at the end of a long day in the coastal heat.

Stories, i.e., reading books and watching movies. There is a stunning mobile library among PCVs (on a recent trip with a group of PCV friends, we spent the morning of our departure bickering about who was going to get which books versus what we actually thought of them), and movies are to be had here for a song (which, if you're like me, means you'll be up at midnight polishing off the leftover Thanksgiving stuffing while watching Top Gun).

Conversations with friends and family. Friends and family from home, Ecuadorian friends and host family, and other PCVs. Simply airing one’s frustrations and grievances to a sympathetic listener does wonders for the soul.

Lying. It is incredibly easy to lie here. "Yes, I have a boyfriend, we're engaged to be married next month." "No, I can’t eat rice; I’m allergic." Etc., etc.

Serving yourself a huge mug of something, anything: colada morada, hot chocolate, tea, juice, ice cream... Or, just making and eating food that reminds you of home, like PB&J or mac'n'cheese.

Taking a shower. Okay, this last one may be more of a personal quirk than anything. But who’s going to object to extra efforts at hygiene, right?

There are days when, for whatever reason, any volunteer may feel unmotivated and be less than productive. Lest we find ourselves huddled in the corner of the shower (okay, I admit again, maybe that’s just me), we find ways to cope and get ourselves back to work. It’s just like the worms: mix things up a little bit and you realize that what was previously an obstacle has now become an opportunity; the Great Beyond is not just a pile of rotting debris sitting on your head, but rather an appetizing array of newspaper and vegetable peels – and we shall munch our way through it with gusto.