Produced by Steve Solomon
NERVES AND COMMON SENSE
BY
ANNIE PAYSON CALL
_Author of "Power Through Repose,"
"As a Matter of Course,"
"The Freedom of Life," etc._
_NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION_
MANY of these articles first appeared in "The Ladies' Home Journal,"
and I am glad to take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Edward
Bok--the editor--for his very helpful and suggestive titles.
ANNIE PAYSON CALL.
CONTENTS
I. HABIT AND NERVOUS STRAIN
II. HOW WOMEN CAN KEEP FROM BEING NERVOUS
III. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I AM RUSHED"
IV. "WHY DOES MRS. SMITH GET ON MY NERVES?"
V. THE TRYING MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
VI. IRRITABLE HUSBANDS
VII. QUIET _vs._ CHRONIC EXCITEMENT
VIII. THE TIRED EMPHASIS
IX. HOW TO BE ILL AND GET WELL
X. IS PHYSICAL CULTURE GOOD FOR GIRLS?
XI. WORKING RESTFULLY
XII. IMAGINARY VACATIONS
XIII. THE WOMAN AT THE NEXT DESK
XIV. TELEPHONES AND TELEPHONING
XV. DON'T TALK
XVI. "WHY FUSS SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT I EAT?"
XVII. TAKE CARE OF YOUR STOMACH
XVIII. ABOUT FACES
XIX. ABOUT VOICES
XX. ABOUT FRIGHTS
XXI. CONTRARINESS
XXII. HOW TO SEW EASILY
XXIII. DO NOT HURRY
XXIV. THE CARE OF AN INVALID
XXV. THE HABIT OF ILLNESS
XXVI. WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES ME SO NERVOUS?
XXVII. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFORT
XVIII. HUMAN DUST
XXIX. PLAIN EVERY-DAY COMMON SENSE
XXX. A SUMMING UP
CHAPTER I
_Habit and Nervous Strain_
PEOPLE form habits which cause nervous strain. When these habits
have fixed themselves for long enough upon their victims, the nerves
give way and severe depression or some other form of nervous
prostration is the result. If such an illness turns the attention to
its cause, and so starts the sufferer toward a radical change from
habits which cause nervous strain to habits which bring nervous
strength, then the illness can be the beginning of better and
permanent health. If, however, there simply is an enforced rest,
without any intelligent understanding of the trouble, the invalid
gets "well" only to drag out a miserable existence or to get very
ill again.
Although any nervous suffering is worth while if it is the means of
teaching us how to avoid nervous strain, it certainly is far
preferable to avoid the strain without the extreme pain of a nervous
breakdown.
To point out many of these pernicious habits and to suggest a
practical remedy for each and all of them is the aim of this book,
and for that reason common examples in various phases of every-day
life are used as illustrations.
When there is no organic trouble there can be no doubt that _defects
of character, inherited or acquired, are at the root of all nervous
illness._ If this can once be generally recognized and acknowledged,
especially by the sufferers themselves, we are in a fair way toward
eliminating such illness entirely.
The trouble is people suffer from mortification and an unwillingness
to look their bad habits in the face. They have not learned that
humiliation can be wholesome, sound, and healthy, and so they keep
themselves in a mess of a fog because they will not face the shame
necessary to get out of it. They would rather be ill and suffering,
and believe themselves to have strong characters than to look the
weakness of their characters in the face, own up to them like men,
and come out into open fresh air with healthy nerves which will gain
in strength as they live.
Any intelligent man or woman who thinks a bit for himself can see
the stupidity of this mistaken choice at a glance, and seeing it
will act against it and thus do so much toward bringing light to all
nervously prostrated humanity.
We can talk about faith cure, Christian Science, mind cure,
hypnotism, psychotherapeutics, or any other forms of nerve cure
which at the very best can only give the man a gentle shunt toward
the middle of the stream of life. Once assured of the truth, the man
must hold himself in the clean wholesomeness of it by actively
working for his own strength of character _from his own initiative._
There can be no other permanent cure.
I say that strength of character must grow from our own initiative,
and I should add that it must be from our own initiative that we
come to recognize and actively believe that we are dependent upon a
power not our own and our real strength comes from ceasing to be an
obstruction to that power. The work of not interfering with our best
health, moral and physical, means hard fighting and steady,
never-ending vigilance. But it pays--it more than pays! And, it
seems to me, this prevailing trouble of nervous strain which is so
much with us now can be the means of guiding all men and women
toward more solid health than has ever been known before. _But we
must work for it!_ We must give up expecting to be cured.