Handling Stressful Situations
by People handle stressful situations in different ways; this article looks at several of those methods. I recently witnessed the four listed ‘methods’ within one family in a hospital waiting room.
There was a woman in this family that made several trips to the cafeteria, made sure everyone had coffee and sodas, even offered to go collect children from childcare and watch them all at her house until things settled down. It was loving offer after offer. I’ll never know if they took her up on her offers, but as she ran about, you could tell that it was her way of hiding from what was going on at that time. I hope that means that she dealt with the stress later, somehow, because bottling it up never helped anyone.
The In-Charge Method
This is as close to a hero as any person who chases down criminals or runs into fires to save lives. This is the person that pulls it all together and makes things happen so that everyone else can deal in their own way, breaking down, blaming something, helping out. They take charge. They answer questions, fill out paperwork, setup networks so that everyone is updated as things happen and know who else to contact to continue the chain. They make difficult communications when the need arises, they take the night shift, etc. They remain rational while the situation exists, only breaking down in private, and once it’s safe to let go of the control they had to accept.
A man I’ll never know, a member of the family that I sat near, behaved as though he were meant always to be in charge. When the woman was crying, he comforted her. When the other man was throwing a fat and making a scene, he followed and calmed him down. He helped the helper carry the parcels of food and drink. He was given the task of delivering the bad news to the matriarch of the family. He was the first one at the hospital, and as I understand it the last one to leave the next morning. He made himself everything that the family needed at that time.
These are just four of the numerous ways that people deal with the stress that happens in their lives. They are broad examples, but watching this family and the myriad of variations of these four methods gave me a better view into myself and how I deal with things within my own life. I only hope that by passing this one, you too may gain that insight.
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