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> >
> > I searched as well, with no luck. The more I think about it, though, the more I'm sure that if I were to compose such a list, all of the top 10 would be some sort of unrelenting physical agony. That is, if the amount of pain is measured in per unit of time.
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>
> I didn't take it to mean exclusively literal pain. I have seen lists of "most stressful events" that a person can go through (actually used to predict your vulnerability to illness), so that's how I figured "most painful thing list" was meant--emotional pain as well as literal pain.
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> That list was topped by either death of a spouse or death of a child, can't remember which, and was followed by (in no particular order) death of a parent, death of a sibling, divorce, losing a job, major illness, bankruptcy, incarceration, auto accident, etc.
>
> Also included were ostensibly "good" things like getting married, or birth of a child, or "neutral" things like moving house, since they can also induce stress.


I teach this stuff. Stressors can cause pain, or decrease tolerance, or inhibit immune response - so that is often the list most referred to.

A list of the most commonly referred to stressors is at:

http://www.crescentlife.com/wellness/stressors.htm

And a good overview is at:

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/stress.jsp

How you manage the stress is what matters, and this may be dependent on the supports you have both internally and externally (a place to post your ideas to a thoughtful audience doesn't hurt). This will determine if you carry on, like Enigma, or crumple.

It can also change over time and circumstance: right after my Dad died/I found out I was pregnant/we moved I was less able to manage smaller stressors. Eventually, this alleviated.

te "tries hard not to become stressed out" ach