Gray Wolf Productions

Tag: human interest

TV Ads, Stress, And Anxiety

I was recently working on a course [and now doing an ebook] about stress – and so I was very tuned into my own levels of stress and anxiety.

I was trying to figure out something about how to catch the start of that stress while it is motivating and before it goes over to being the “bad” level of stress.

I’ve always known that I have an antenna for stress and anxiety and I tend to pick those from other people – which was good [in a way] when I was a therapist but I had to watch that it did not raise mine which was a hard task sometimes.

Anyway, while working on this course, when I took a break I tended to watch television.

I don’t watch television that much but my neighbors gifted me with a little flat screen TV – so I bought an antenna and again can watch some non-cable stuff.

First thing I realized was why I hate TV.

I really do hate the medical ads.

I’ve written about them before in the context of we have a pill for everything because no matter what’s “wrong” with you there’s a pill – and of course we at big pharma tell you what’s “wrong” even if it’s a normal human behavior like peeing.

ARGH!!!!!

But I digress -which is easy when big pharma is on my mind.

Anyway – while listening to [and not actually viewing] the ads, I realized that the tone of speech, the music, and the way the whole ad unfolds, actually raises one’s anxiety level and increases one’s stress!

I guess it was designed that way by the admen to send you screaming to your physician saying

I want that pill!

Whatever it is!

I want it!!

SIGH – so miss the days of TV when pills were not allowed to be advertised.

Now they are and they have created a whole slew of problems.

More about those at another time.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thank you!

02/23/2014
My 2nd Udemy Course Is The 1st One Done

Over a year ago, I started to put together an online class about Nutrition.

I told Udemy it could be ready in 6 weeks. I was a seasoned college professor and thought I could quickly put together the syllabus and start filling in the “lecture” content and do the videos. HA!

My first setback was when I discovered that my old Sony camcorder was not “good enough” anymore as it didn’t do HD recording.

So I had to figure how else was I going to do the video since the courses have to be video. I tried different things and kind of just gave up for a while because nothing was working.

Then I got a new [and much needed] computer with a good camera and microphone. But first I had to learn the new operating system as I went from a very old Mac to the newest one.

After fiddling with lights, etc. my decision was to do an “easy” PowerPoint presentation with voice over. Alas, it turns out there’s a glitch in the newest version of PowerPoint for Mac so that when you record a voice over on PowerPoint it won’t save the narration.

Having already bought Keynote – I decided – “okay I guess it’s time to learn Keynote” [but I didn’t really want to do that.] Luckily, someone teaching on Udemy did a course on Keynote and I learned how to use it and started back to work on the Nutrition course.

In the middle of all of this – and teaching an online course for a local college – I finally found the Lab puppy I had been looking for. Which, if you have ever done puppy things, meant house training, taking care of, and all those other puppy events.

[I look back now and wonder how did I ever manage to do the puppy stuff again. It had been many years since I had a puppy as the last dog I had was adopted when he was three.]

Working away at the course and other life stuff, my hard drive crashed. Yes it was a relatively new computer, only a few months old, and all was under warranty. It is a laptop – but getting it fixed meant having to keep going back to the Apple Store because there were constant glitches that prevented my being able to get online. And I really needed to be online because I had to download my storage from the cloud backup.

Finally, the entire operating system had to be re-downloaded and re-installed.

And in the midst of all of this, it turns out I had a puppy who did not like being left home alone – so each time I had to run down to the Apple Store I had to get a puppy sitter. Luckily my neighbors could keep her a few times, and a good friend of mine was in town visiting her son and she had the time to come over and puppy sit. I am so thankful for good friends…

During this time, the course on Nutrition kept growing because I realized I had more to say than I originally planned. And honestly, by then I got sick of the whole process because that course reminded me of the problems with the puppy and the computer.

And, because it was again nearing that time of year, I had to get ready to teach my other online class for the local college. I decided instead to do a very short Udemy course on stress. [Gee – I wonder where that topic came from.]

Even though it was to be a short course and it basically is, I do not have a linear brain and it’s very hard for me to follow a template or a pattern so formatting the course sections took longer then it would for most others.

And middle of all of this, I upgraded to the Mavericks operating system. And that meant there were updates to most everything on my computer including Keynote. ARGHHHHHHHHH

I’m not even getting into weather related issues, my ability to procrastinate, or the death of a friend….

To make this rather long story much shorter, I basically decided I was just going to finish this thing, publish it, and see what happens!

I was literally getting sick and tired of working with Keynote, fiddling with having to make things kind of similar from lecture to lecture, and all of that – so I recorded stopped fiddling, recorded the slides with voiceover, exported into QuickTime, uploaded the files to Udemy, finished all the other little thingies like descriptions and all that and hit publish – basically without really reviewing the whole thing because I was that sick of it.

But it’s done…and I feel a sense of relief….

I had taken my own advice to Stop Stressing About Stress

And maybe, just maybe, I can get back to the 1^st course, the one on Nutrition…..

12/31/2013
50 Years Ago Today

50 years ago, I was in my 1st year of graduate school in Boston, Massachusetts.

50 years ago, President Kennedy was assassinated.

50 years is a long time but I still have one odd, yet powerful, memory of that day.

It was a Friday and in the days before ATM machines so in order to have cash for the upcoming weekend, I needed to walk to my bank and get some. It was a Friday routine for me.

I knew that Kennedy had been shot, and was dead. That had a major impact on my psyche…on the psyche of all I was with that day – but I still needed cash.

Walking to the bank – Shawmut Bank in Kenmore Square – was a surreal experience. I think I know what an out-of-body experience feels like after that day… Here I was, doing what was a mundane, but necessary task, and the President had been assassinated. I felt like like I was walking in some alternate time zone where life was ok…I wondered if the others walking or driving by me were aware of what happened as we all seemed so normal, doing normal activities.

This surreal experience can be recalled easily on the anniversary of the assassination – but is stronger this year, as it falls on a Friday – and it is the 50 year anniversary.

Sadly, little did I know that this was the beginning of a series of assassinations that rocked my days in Boston…..

11/22/2013
Tova Goes To School

Tova and I started the first of six weeks of doggy class the other day.

We were the only ones in the class and that was nice for the start, but next week there will be other people and dogs which will be better.

I have taken dog classes with other dogs but Tova had never been to one and I needed a refresher too.

We had to wait until it wasn’t so hot out because hot is not to my liking. Turned out, it was not to her liking either.

The instructor is a good trainer and Tova responded well. So well that there was an immediate major difference in her behavior at class and at home. She seems to know that we’re learning and working – and she loves to do her “work.” She IS a lab and labs are working dogs.

And before the class began, we had been working at home where I say to her: “let’s go to work” and she goes into her “I know we’re going to do sit, down, and stay.” And I’ll get treats of course….for a while.

Updates as we progress….

10/10/2013
Waking Up To No Electricity
No electricity?

Uh oh!

As I pondered an unknown time with no electricity – here are some thoughts I had

Things to be grateful for
- A French press for my coffee
- Gas stove and hot water heater
- Matches to ignite gas stove
- Summer and DST
- Good neighbors
Things to remember [there is always the “next” time]
- Grind sufficient coffee beans the night before
- Fully charge computer and cell phone every night
PS

I don’t use a lot of electricity, but when it goes out, I get to think about all the things I have that require electricity.

So I will be very thankful when the electricity comes back on…

And remember that the estimated time for restoration is a moving target

PPS – It finally came back and I am able to post this – phew

Comments? Thank you
07/28/2013
6 Down; 6 To Go

It is the 1st day of the last 6 months of the year.

What have you gotten done?

What will you do with the next 6 months?

In North America we are into summer and for many of us it is stifling hot….

But don’t let the weather determine your goals – summer is a good time to keep working on whatever you were working on…refine it, add to it, finish it. Sell it! Make money for your business!!

If, like me, you are a daylight person, the added hours of sunshine mean added hours to get things done….

Stay cool! Stay focused!

Are you more [or less] productive in the summer?

Comments?

07/01/2013