WHAT? MONDAY

Dear Hearts and Gentle People,

I loved your comments on Friday. I think it's safe to say you disliked the stress and illness chart, which I'll post again right here and now. From Wikipedia:

Development

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe examined the medical records of over 5,000 medical patients as a way to determine whether stressful events might cause illnesses. Patients were asked to tally a list of 43 life events based on a relative score. A positive correlation of 0.118 was found between their life events and their illnesses.

Their results were published as the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS),^[1] known more commonly as the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. Subsequent validation has supported the links between stress and illness.^[2]

[edit]

[edit]Adults

To measure stress according to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, the number of "Life Change Units" that apply to events in the past year of an individual's life are added and the final score will give a rough estimate of how stress affects health.

Life event	Life change units
Death of a spouse	100
Divorce	73
Marital separation	65
Imprisonment	63
Death of a close family member	63
Personal injury or illness	53
Marriage	50
Dismissal from work	47
Marital reconciliation	45
Retirement	45
Change in health of family member	44
Pregnancy	40
Sexual difficulties	39
Gain a new family member	39
Business readjustment	39
Change in financial state	38
Death of a close friend	37
Change to different line of work	36
Change in frequency of arguments	35
Major mortgage	32
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
Change in responsibilities at work	29
Child leaving home	29
Trouble with in-laws	29
Outstanding personal achievement	28
Spouse starts or stops work	26
Begin or end school	26
Change in living conditions	25
Revision of personal habits	24
Trouble with boss	23
Change in working hours or conditions	20
Change in residence	20
Change in schools	20
Change in recreation	19
Change in church activities	19
Change in social activities	18
Minor mortgage or loan	17
Change in sleeping habits	16
Change in number of family reunions	15
Change in eating habits	15
Vacation	13
Christmas	12
Minor violation of law	11

Score of 300+: At risk of illness.

Score of 150-299+: Risk of illness is moderate (reduced by 30% from the above risk).

Score 150-: Only have a slight risk of illness.

If I obey the rules for this piece of crap interesting analysis and count points for what happened to me in the past year, then I have, I think, 319 points. I added them up a minute ago and while I wrote the beginning of the sentence, I forgot the number of points. I just remember it was a bit more than 300.

Now I'm going to cheat and count my points for the last three years.

686!

Oh, boy. Thanks a lot, Holmes and Rahe. I wasn't sure just how miserable I was until you told me. 

Way to go, trying to make me feel worse. Whether I count points for one year or three years, I'm up shit crick without a paddle at risk of illness. So, boys, what is my illness and what should I do about it?

Huh? Huh?

I'm waiting for an answer.

I guess Holmes and Rahe aren't going to tell me anything. It's probably top secret.

See why I hate graphs and scales and tests that determine what type of personality we supposedly have and what our illnesses are? I have news for you: I am a person, not a number. 

So, Holmes and Rahe, I'm thwoing you in the twash with the boo jacket. Yes, fellas, you have cockwoach cwap on you.

I've decided to make up my own scale, and it will lead to our What? Monday question. 

It's The Janie Junebug Joy Scale and it counteracts the misery assessment. The highest score I can get on my scale for any individual life event is 1,000.

Gaining a new family member is worth 39 points on the agony assessment. Well, to me, gaining a new family member most likely means having a baby, adopting a child, or experiencing the joy of seeing my children fall in love and get married. On my Joy Scale, a new family member is worth the maximum 1,000 points. 

Since Favorite Young Man and Little Chick moved in together a few months ago, I count that as gaining a family member. Little Chick is definitely worth 1,000 points. My new points wipe out my points from the Holmes and Rahe are full of shit scale, whether I use the 300+ or the 600+. Doesn't matter cuz those numbers don't mean anything anyway.

I will also give 1,000 points to the feelings I experience every time I see Favorite Young Man and Little Chick and talk to The Hurricane on the telephone. Tail wags and kisses from the dogs must be worth a lot of joy points. Living in a sweet little house, making a new friend, seeing an old friend, building my confidence by doing my own yard work, and best of all, knowing I am saved . . . I could go on and on.

I think you get the idea that having a joy scale you make up yourself and giving yourself as many happiness points as you like is one heckuvalot better than having your unhappiness measured.

This bring me to today's What? Monday question:

What are some life events you would put on your joy scale? And if you want to give them a ton of points, then please feel free. It's your scale. It belongs to you, not Holmes and Rahe or anyone else. Tell us how happy you are, please.  

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

Please make a special effort to visit my blog on Thursday. Bouncin' Barb (of http://bouncinbarbs.blogspot.com/) will be this week's guest postess as we continue to discuss love and intimacy. Barb has known, and continues to know, some serious hard times. Let's show her our appreciation.