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Just a Little Bit Stressed?

written by agammy

A Stress Test

Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study of a group revealed that in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The number of differences observed matches closely to the amount of stress the observer is experiencing.

Are you stressed?

(Check out Flickr to see the Dolphin Stress Test.)

As much as I laughed last week when I received this little “test” from a friend, real stress is no joke. I should know, because lately I have been talking to a lot of people who are stressed out, and they’re not laughing. Some people are doubting their job-security, some are worried about their credit card debt,  some are overloaded at work, and some simply want to take a vacation they’re not sure they can afford. However, while we all experience stress, some people deal with it better than others. Why is that?

Why Some People Deal with Stress More Effectively

I read Kenneth W. Thomas and Walter G. Tymon’s Stress Resiliency Profile over the weekend, and learned why the same stress can devastate some people while leaving others unscathed. According to the authors, when it comes to the everyday obstacles and challenges leading to stress,  our interpretive habits largely determine how we will fare. This means, we are in control of how stressed out we feel. (We do occasionally experience challenges that are beyond our coping capacity, but the Stress Resiliency Profile deals with usual everyday stress.)

Since we have control of perceptions, and perceptions relate directly to our stress levels, the  Stress Resiliency profile is extremely useful because it helps you identify your own unhealthy interpretive habits so that you can develop positive ones. The 18 item assessment calls out three types of thinking that indicate someone’s predisposition to buckle under stress -

1. Deficiency Focusing:

Deficiency focusing is the habit of focusing on the negatives at the expense of the positives.

2.  Necessitating

Necessitating occurs when we think its imperative that we do something - that we “have” to do it (or risk catastrophic results.)

3.  Low Skill Recognition

Low skill recognition is a tendency to not see the role of our abilities in producing our success.

It’s often hard to accept that your internal dialogue is responsible for more discomfort than the stressful events around you, so using an assessment is a way to take a step back and look at the stress you experience more objectively. For example, when I took the assessment, I scored highly on “deficiency focusing,” which means, in any given situation I am more likely to ask “What is Wrong?” rather than “What is going well?” or “What can go wrong?” rather than “What are the opportunities?” Learning this about myself is the first step to changing my thought patterns that make daily life that much more difficult. According to the authors, deficiency focusing can be a real drag on your self-esteem, stress levels, and overall positivity - although it’s important to be aware of dangers and deficiencies, people who focus on them tend to experience an exaggerated sense of threat and diminished optimism that leads to stress - and this is something I have definitely experienced!

Once you complete the assessment portion of the Profile, the authors provide tips designed to help you combat the unhealthy thought patterns. The recommendations I received were very useful, and I felt I could apply them to my life immediately. So, hopefully, I will be one less stressed person out there!

If you are interested in overcoming your own stress-inducing habits (or helping a client with theirs) check out the Stress Resiliency Profile - it’s a quick and easy way to develop a more positive outlook.