The Best Strategy for Reducing Stress

" He was experiencing the gap between what he expected to happen and what was actually happening.

That's the underlying cause of stress and it's afflicting us more these days than ever because our expectations keep rising, thanks in part to exponential improvements in our technology."

Oh don't flatter (or insult) mankind with such rationality. It is the gap between what we desire to happen and what is happening, and the uncertainty that this brings about, that leads to stress. If you enlarge this gap enough for a long enough time, it tends to accumulate.

"But that day on his boat, Rob was expecting his cell to work. So the cell outage far from land, where there's no alternative means of communicating his absence on an important phone call created a stressful unmet expectation."

No. Rob has bigger problems if he can't chill the fuck down and enjoy his boattrip.

The writer seems to be in love with his little theme of expectation, and consequently misses the bigger picture.