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Stress coping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 10.25.2006

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Under pressure . . . Heather and I were discussing stress coping mechanisms last night.

I try to be laid back. I think most of the time, I am.

But when someone does something completely illogical (which impacts me negatively), that pushes my buttons and I fly off the handle.

I think it’s because I’m a logical person. A + B = C. If you can give me a good reason why A + B = D, then I’m fine.

But if you insist A + B = D without giving me a reason why, and it makes things more difficult for me, that just ticks me off.

Heather is the opposite. She shoves it down. A little destructive, but she’s learning to unload these days, which is good.

Actually, in stressful situations, Heather stays calmer for longer than I do. Which I envy, because I don’t want to be emotional, period.

I mean, if it’s something I can’t do anything about, why do I get emotional about it? If a madman insists that A + B = D, there’s nothing I can do to convince him otherwise. Why do I get bent out of shape?

(Captain Caffeine asks me that all the time, and it usually gets me to shut up.)

So how about you guys? How do you cope?

TMI:

Writing: I posted another article on proposals at my Story Sensei blog.

I also posted a book review of Calm, Cool and Adjusted by Kristin Billerbeck.

Diet: I’ve been doing the exercise bike about 30 minutes every day so far. I feel a little guilty because it’s not the same intensity of exercise as Denise Austin, but at least I’m doing it. Hey, if Meg Cabot does only 30 minutes a day and looks as fabulous as she does, why not, right?

Comments

  1. Mary DeMuthWed Oct 25, 05:18:00 AM 2006

    hi cute camy,

    most of my stress is relational. I have plenty of the other types of stress, but the stuff that puts me under a rug is relational. I'm learning to process this, but it's not easy. I'd rather keep the peace. I hate conflict. But God is growing me, thankfully. I'm learning that conflict isn't the end of the world.

    I still don't like it though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousWed Oct 25, 06:01:00 AM 2006

    Ooh. I'm not a good person to talk about dealing with stress. My husband is usually the one to calm me down. But I do have a funny story related to your A+B=D.

    My husband was hit by a car while running (not hard, he was fine). The next time we went running, we started talking about the odds of it happening again. To be funny, I said, "Well, essentially, there's always a 50/50 chance that something will happen. Either it happens or it doesn't. 50/50."

    This annoyed my husband to no end cause he knew it wasn't true, he knew I knew it wasn't true, and yet I kept saying it.

    Hilarious. And yet you're screaming right now, "THAT'S NOT RIGHT!" :)

    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownWed Oct 25, 06:53:00 AM 2006

    Me? I have a quick temper, but usually my couch in my office gets the brunt of it. Then, I take a deep breath and go about handling the issues as best I can. A lot of prayer has to go into it sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heather Diane TiptonWed Oct 25, 06:56:00 AM 2006

    LOL I stay calmer because I just don't care. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. DominoWed Oct 25, 09:00:00 AM 2006

    I agree that not caring helps. As a very expressive parent, I have to choose to not care about the things my kids do that are annoying but not harmful to anyone. I try to turn off the annoyance receptors occasionally. If I didn't, I'd be saying, "Stop making that noise" way too much.

    It's the same thing with adult issues. Things that annoy me in the business world to the point of ticking me off in a big way MUST be ignored sometimes.

    Choosing to ignore the little things actually helps in ministering to people that are so very different from you. Could I lead someone to Jesus without asking him why he'd gotten his face tatooed? I'd really have to focus on the major things and not care about the minor things.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Danica FavoriteWed Oct 25, 04:49:00 PM 2006

    I threaten to kill people. Huh. I wonder if that's why I don't have any friends near me ;) That Man knows he's safe because I don't have enough life insurance on him.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousThu Oct 26, 07:56:00 PM 2006

    I guess I'm more like Heather: I think that I'm probably wrong somehow because everyone always thinks they know everything better than I do--even about language and grammar. HA!

    I really am someone who internalizes all this. I have a lot of trouble talking with anybody about problems. Being single sort of has that as a corollary. I guess that's why I have strong?, bad? issues with confidence, especially if the other person(s) purport to be Christians.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousThu Oct 26, 07:57:00 PM 2006

    Please put my name in for the book.

    ReplyDelete

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