by Ken Vincent, Featured Contributor
WE ALL GET exposed to pressures. At work, in our personal lives, even when commuting.
Pressure on the job can be due to a surly peer, an unreasonable boss, unrealistic deadlines, rude customers, or perhaps observing something dishonest or unethical.
On the personal front we get pressure from our spouses, our kids, health issues, and sometimes just from a plumbing or electrical problem in our house.
Then there are the other outside sources. Nothing creates more pressure than a letter from the IRS advising that you are going to be audited. Just the rapid fire changes that we are living with today creates pressure in trying to adapt.
The question we must all face is not whether or not we can avoid pressure, but how we handle it. You can’t escape it, you just have to find a way to deal with it.
I’ve seen some that become aggressive when pressured. They get short tempered with their spouse, snappy with the kids, and take their “attitude” to their job. More often than not that way of dealing with pressure tends to make things worse by creating blow back pressure.
Some, of course, retreat into a shell. They become non-communicative and reclusive. Hiding from the problem, or pretending that it doesn’t exist, or that it will just go away seldom works. Problems that create pressure seldom solve themselves and don’t get better with age.
Then there are those that try to turn the pressure to someone else. These people are “blamers”. Finding who caused the problem that is creating pressure becomes an obsession. Who is at fault? Finger pointing is the order of the day.
Certainly fixing the problem that is causing the pressure is the ideal, but that isn’t always possible in the short term. Sometimes not at all.
So, how do you deal with the pressures of life? What techniques do you use, or have you seen other use? What has worked well for you?
