‘Hardy personalities’ like pressure

Coping with stress is a task almost everyone in today’s society faces. Busy homemakers have the responsibility of running the household, preparing nutritious and balanced meals, running a taxi service or car pool to the many activities their children are involved in and providing a healthy atmosphere for the whole family. Men and women in the work force are also under a lot of stress. The decisions and responsibilities in a service profession, such as law and medicine, are widely known to have the potential for a great deal of stress.

In all walks of life, people cope with stress in varying degrees. Why do some people handle stress better than others? Among the very busy, high achieving individuals who deal with heavy and demanding workloads under a great deal of stress and pressure for long periods of time are many who don’t seem to be negatively affected by this lifestyle. In fact, many of these individuals seem to thrive under this heavy workload and pressure.

John is someone who thrives under daily pressure. He arises at 5:30 a.m., jogs three miles or rides his stationary bike for 30 minutes, eats and leaves the house. His enthusiasm and eagerness to get to work seem almost overdone and even phony to some of his colleagues.

Only his wife and family know for sure that John thoroughly enjoys his work and seems to thrive on the daily challenges. At work, he seems so in tune with what he is doing his associates call him a “natural” for the job. His colleagues and supervisors marvel at the way he fits in with what he does, almost as though he was made for the job. There is never any hint that John feels out of place or uncomfortable with his work. As a matter of fact, he seems to seek out new situations and changes.

John isn’t always successful at a task or new situation, but he doesn’t view this as a failure. Instead, he sees the challenge of learning from the experience and forging ahead to try something different in order to achieve the success he seeks.

Although John is interested in improving his performance, he isn’t a perfectionist to the point that he is never satisfied with the work he has done. He accepts his ability and feels his suggestions and efforts produce results. This gives him a sense of control in his life, rather than simply feeling like a “puppet on a string.” He frequently has a feeling of completion at the end of the day, instead of feeling that his life is always at “loose ends.”

Sure, John has his bad days just like everyone else, but for the most part he sees his accomplishments first, and his less than satisfactory performance later. He accepts his strengths and weaknesses.

Researchers have shown that people who are “immune” to stress and seem to thrive on pressure without the harmful side effects of this pressure are in fact more stress resistant. Researchers have termed these stress resistant individuals “hardy personalities.”

In next week’s column I will discuss more about individuals like John who have “hardy personalities” and continue to examine how these individuals look at life.

Copyright c 1990 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.