1 . “Anxiety.” The very word causes discomfort. Its effects—shortness of breath, pounding heart, muscle tension—are upsetting. Research shows that in and of itself, anxiety is not deadly, and it certainly is not a disease.     1    . Once we accept the idea, we can use it to do well. Here are three aspects anxiety can help you.

It can build your emotional strength and toughness

Working out at the gym is supposed to be hard and uncomfortable, since it involves pushing our physical strength past what you can easily do.     2    , if you want to build emotional strength and toughness. The experience of occasional anxiety and tension increases your emotional strength.

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Humans are social creatures. The number one predictor of happiness is not financial success, or fame. It’s the quality of our relationships. In the same way, sharing our anxieties with our loved ones is one of the most effective strategies to build connection.

It can help you readjust and rebalance

Often, all of us find ourselves at the end of our rope. Our responsibilities pile up, our resources break down, and we just don’t have enough time to get everything done. We feel uncomfortably anxious most of the time. In such cases, what we’re experiencing is called stress.     4    . The only real solutions to stress are to decrease our demands or increase our resources. Therefore, when we feel anxious because of stress, it’s our body’s way of telling us to readjust and rebalance. When we notice our internal cues, we become more focused overall and less stressed.

Therefore, anxiety can be a healthy, helpful emotion that is a constructive aspect of human life.     5    .

3 . Scientists have been experimenting with playing sounds to plants since at least the 1960s, during which time they have been exposed to everything from Beethoven to Michael Jackson. Over the years, evidence that this sort of thing can have an effect has been growing. One paper, published in 2018, claimed that an Asian shrub known as the telegraph plant grew substantially larger leaves when exposed to 56 days of Buddhist music — but not if it was exposed to Western pop music or silence. Another, published last year, found that marigolds and sage plants exposed to the noise of traffic from a busy motorway suffered growth difficulty.

Plants have been evolving (进化) alongside the insects that eat them for hundreds of millions of years. With that in mind, Heidi Appel, a botanist now at the University of Houston, and Reginald Cocroft, a biologist at the University of Missouri, wondered if plants might be sensitive to the sounds made by the animals with which they most often interact. They recorded the vibrations made by certain species of caterpillars (毛毛虫) as they chewed on leaves. These vibrations are not powerful enough to produce sound waves in the air. But they are able to travel across leaves and branches, and even to neighbouring plants if their leaves touch.

They then exposed tobacco plant — the plant biologist’s version of the laboratory mouse — to the recorded vibrations while no caterpillars were actually present. Later, they put real caterpillars on the plants to see if exposure had led them to prepare for an insect attack. The results were striking. Leaves that had been exposed had significantly higher levels of defensive chemicals, making them much harder for the caterpillars to eat. Leaves that had not been exposed to vibrations showed no such response. Other sorts of vibration — caused by the wind, for instance, or other insects that do not eat leaves — had no effect.

“Now speakers with the right audio files are more often being used to warn crops to act when insects are detected but not yet widespread,” says Dr. Cocroft. “Unlike chemical pesticides, sound waves leave no dangerous chemicals.”

4 . My 15-year-old daughter landed her first job this summer as a dishwasher at the local cafe, making $16 an hour. And I was filling with pride and unrequested advice.

After her first shift, my daughter issued her grievances. She was on her feet for hours on end! The water was extremely hot! She was too busy to eat dinner! And every time she turned around, the sink was piled high with pots and pans covered in cheese and sauce!

I panicked. Over the next few days, I tried talking to my daughter about what she could do differently. I tried coaching her on how to ask her manager for a 15-minute snack break. And I offered her a pair of rubber gloves. My daughter would have none of it.

As the weeks wore on, she got to know the work well. Oh, she still complained. But she told me that she was gamifying (游戏化) the washing system, that the line cooks had an amusing middle school sense of humor, and that the head chef was developing a dessert that she got to taste-test before it hit the menu. Plus, there was the money.

The other day she said that during her first week at work, she didn’t understand how to clock in and out on the time clock (考勤钟).“So, I told my boss the clock wasn’t working for me and I texted him my hours,” she said. “But later on, I watched a few other people clock in and figured it out.”

“You know, sometimes it’s OK to ask for help,” I advised.

As soon as I saw her wounded look, I regretted my words. Why was I correcting her when she’d eventually found the solution on her own? That was her chance to grow, learn, and gain independence and responsibility.

Last night she told me excitedly the boss asked her to do some salad preparation. When I heard the news, I smiled happily. A promotion already! For a teenager, having a summer job is a beautiful growing experience, and for a parent, watching your child experience it is an exercise in learning to let go.

5 . 2024 Seattle Marathon’s Summer Events

The Seattle Marathon Association (SMA) is a non-profit organization proud of providing a quality running event in the Pacific Northwest. Join us for our annual family-friendly run at Seward Park with views of Lake Washington and Mount Rainier. Dogs welcome! Choose your distance: 5k, 10k or Half Marathon! Kids are welcome to participate in the Kids Fun Run, a quick 1k run with specially provided snacks waiting at the end.

At 3:00 PM, June 21 — Early Packet Pickup

At 7:00 AM, June 22 — Event Day Registration & Packet Pickup

All finishers will receive an event me dal and a technical fabric shirt.

●Top 3 overall men & women participants in the 5k (must come in under 25min), 10k (must come in under 45min) and Half Marathon (must come in under 1hr 30min) races will receive cash prizes at the finish line.

●In addition, in the week following the race, non-cash awards will be emailed to the top three runners in each age division. Age divisions are as follows: 14 and under,15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89 and 90+.

We offer free entries for athletes who can prove qualifying time(s) within the last 2 years. Please note that we only offer free registration and do not cover any transportation, accommodation, food or visa fees. Please contact us with proof of your qualifying time(s) within the last 2 years for a free entry to the race.