Popular Post Dave Hounddriver Posted October 4, 2011 Popular Post Posted October 4, 2011 Stress in the Philippines Do you find yourself getting stressed out living in the Philippines? Wait a minute, maybe you are not living here yet. Do you find yourself getting stressed out where you live? Stress is the main reason I moved to the Philippines. You can say it was the girls, or the cheap living, or the beer, or any number of other things but back home I was stressed out. The Philippines was and is my escape. So I don't get stressed out in the Philippines and I decided to list the top 10 reasons why stress is less here. Feel free to add your own reasons why there is more or less stress here. 10. I can drive down the road without worry of cops carrying radar guns. Speeding tickets stress me out and I don't get any here. 9. I can go to the doctor and get right in. I used to get stressed when I was sick and had to make an appointment 3 months in advance to see the doc then wait in the clinic for 3 hours then have to pay a huge user's fee for the priviledge. And that doesn't include the prescription I would have to buy. Much better here. 8. Fewer bills. I used to get stressed from the bills. Government bills like health care and taxes. Phone bills, cable bills, property taxes, Car insurance and registration. These things used to KILL my budget and elevate my stress level. Here I don't even have a mail box. The few bills I get are all quite manageable with the highest being the electric. 7. Breaking the online computer game habit. Believe it or not, the escape from online computer games can be quite stressful. Here, the Internet is not nearly dependable enough to play online games. It is actually a good thing. 6. No family pressure. Of course there is family pressure on the wife here but that is her stress. For me, I used to feel a little guilty for not being my grown children's safety net any more but it is great to be away from: Daddy can you. . . . 5. Social groups are great. The social network in my past life revolved around work so it was stressful to plan events and then get called out for work. Here, most of my social group are retired and laid back. Its a good thing. 4. Exercise is good for stress. I can go for long walks any day of any month. It sure beats looking out the window at 4 feet of snow and 40 below and wishing the weather was nicer to go for a walk. 3. I don't have to lift a finger. I used to have the stress of cutting the grass, shopping, fixing my dinner, etc. Here that is not stressful. Yesterday I wanted to cut the grass, so I did. If I did not want to do it I would look for a local lad who would run over and offer to do it for $5. Same with the other chores. 2. I go on a vacation every year. Back home I often put off vacationing due to one thing or another. Here I am on a tourist visa where they insist I leave the country every 16 months or so. It is a great stress reliever and I am glad they force me to do it. 1. Of course the girls are great stress relievers. Need I say more? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Not buying, and simply renting will be far less stress. :no: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bundy Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 A great post Dave. You've just listed all the reasons why i want to live in the Philippines. Every time i'm there i definitely don't feel stressed! and i look forward to the day when i won't have to leave, except for the welcome holidays to another s.e.a. country. If all goes well i'm still hoping to be there by Feb 2012. :no: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonjack2847 Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 I have been here 2 weeks now and my stress level has gone right down along with my heartbeat rate. 1 thing I don`t like here (which I should be used to now after the amount of time I have been in SEA ) is when taxi drivers use their car horns to get my attention, we don`t use car horns this way in the UK. I sometimes jump out of my skin when they do it. Time to change my shorts again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) Less or no stress is: When one no longer have to wait for your landlord to fix anything that breaks in the home your renting! When the landlord doesn’t increase your rent 10 to 20% each year!When one buys their own home or get one built the way one wants it!When one doesn’t have to make ends meet between paychecks! When the wife or girlfriend doesn’t nag one to death!When the wife or girlfriend can cook a decent meal most of the time!When extended family no longer knocks on the door uninvited, but asks for permission!When the car doesn’t crap out all the time! When BOI personnel know what they are doing! When dollar exchange rate is over P44!When one can afford to hire a driver and vehicle to get from point A to point B and then back in one peace! When one can hire domestic helpers that don't constantly break things! When one can take decent vacations 2 to 3 times a year weather it's in the RP or elsewhere!When one only spends 40% of their pension on their monthly living expenses here in the RP! When the global recession improves, even at a snail’s pace!When members get along on forums! I can go on and on, but I'll leave it up to others to add their comments! Edited October 4, 2011 by Art2ro 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 I have found that retirement in itself has reduced my stress level, yet sometimes running a forum and having so many different personalities expecting me/us to satisfy their wishes, as to how the forum should be run, causes me great unnecessary stress. As Tom and others have said, we cannot please everyone, so members should please try to understand what has been made clear in some of the question posts I have made, that what one does not like, another does, so in the scheme of life, is it really worth getting so upset about news stories or what a person writes, if you do not like what I/they write, please skip over those posts, and in that way your life will have a lot less stress, because I surely do not wish to be the cause of any of your stress. Life and retirement is supposed to be fun, please try to enjoy yourselves and not let the small stuff upset you and cause you stress. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joellouisalba Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Amen to that Kuya Lee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 "Stress in life is sometimes imposed upon us and at times it's what we make it to be or not, but life is grand, when we have choices the way in how and where we want to live our lives"! Without the freedom of our choices, we are all screwed and stress is then imposed upon us once more! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 the only stress I had was trying to pay my bills when the exchange rate dropped coz I could have put up with all the other negatives 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeatmanila Posted October 7, 2011 Posted October 7, 2011 Stress by living in Philippines...???? Only when i drive in the hectic traffic of manila. :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts