I have a theory on finding the country with the least stress. Having been almost everywhere, and lived in ten countries, I have noticed that this is not a simple equation.
Stress comes from two sources:
that which happens to us;
how we react to it.
And the strange thing is that there is a training effect. In some countries, where everything works near perfectly, people still end up at the doctor’s office with all the symptoms of total, psychological breakdown; and in some countries, where things are clearly mostly crap, they don’t.
Why is that?
Well, it’s the second point above that can work against us. If we have high expectations, we will be stressed out by everything that falls short of them. I have seen people on the verge of tears because the bus was two minutes late in Japan, while I have seen people perfectly composed when the bus was cancelled altogether in Paraguay.
The difference is that we humans arrange ourselves within our individual universe, and find our own stress level. We even sometimes keep it high artificially! How else can bungee jumping be explained.
So, the least stressful country:
a place where you are reasonably safe from injury, untimely death, and violence;
wherever you are happy to put up with the realities as they may be.
Or, to be blunt:
If you are not in danger, and aren’t likely to be, all you need to do is learn to handle the realities to the point where you no longer experience disappointment beyond the bearable or unexpected, and you have found the least stressful place for yourself, wherever you may be.
