Stress Test – Deal with It

We massage therapists often see similarities in our clients, the tight upper traps, the weak glute max, etc. But I must say I’m fascinated by the differences.

Why does one person develop carpal syndrome after three months on a computer, when another person can spend years lifting granite wedges before something goes?

Chief suspect: Stress. It brings it out in us humans, at astoundingly different speeds and with different somatic symptoms. God knows why, and I’m looking forward someday to getting the explanation. I hope it isn’t like the manual that came with my first PC.

Is it something linear and calculable, such as stress times the number of exposures divided by the number of deep breaths and an individual’s underlying sense of optimism or pessimism? [(S x E/1) * DB +/-] Or something like that. I hope not. Math and I don’t get along.

Stress isn’t the only thing, though. It seems as though people under stress have very different ways of dealing with stress and tolerating it. Perhaps the person at the computer has little tolerance for sitting in an office all day, but the granite installer thinks his job is a piece of cake.

Let’s try out a stress test. You and two other passengers are late for your flight, and the airline sits the three of you in the last row of the airplane. On your right sits Ronald Reagan, his heady optimism and faith glowing. You are in the middle seat. To your left, Woody Allen, nervously clutches his good luck charm.

The plane takes off, has some mechanical problem and crashes. All the crew and passengers on board are killed - except the people in the last row.

Ronald Reagan gets up, dusts off his shoulder pads and says “Wow! We almost got killed! What’s for lunch?”

Woody Allen is down for the count, shocked to be alive. “Why did I survive when all these other people were killed? How can I bear this terrible tragedy? I’ll never be the same again!”

Hey, you in the middle seat. How do you deal with it?