Nowadays, when you think of Alaska, moose, grizzly bears, hockey moms, and pitbull dogs you think of Sarah Palin. She has become an overnight phenomenon on the national and international scene. The real question is whether her overnight popularity will be sustained. There is no doubt that she is the most attractive politician on the international scene.
I live in Anchorage, Alaska some 40 miles from Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla. This doesn't really give me any credentials to comment on Sarah except that our local media is bombarded daily with stories about her vice presidential nomination and activities. So, as a psychologist who is interested in stress, I began to wonder what strategies Sarah uses to manage the incredible pressures that she currently confronts.
When you think of the multiple roles that Sarah Palin fulfils you would have to wonder how effectively she manages all the stress in her public and private life. Besides the presidential campaign, she has multiple other roles to fulfil and her current daily schedule must be exhausting for her. Despite this, she always looks incredibly upbeat and excited on television. The question we ask for now and later if she becomes Vice President is: how does she manage all the stress?
If a person's system is constantly stressed, there are many negative side-effects. These are caused by the neurochemicals that cause us to be in a state of what has been called fight or flee. Sustained stress has many negative correlates, for example, headaches, inability to speak well in public, loss of confidence, and general strain. Sarah Palin seems to rely on what is called eustress. This is good positive stress which uses all the stimulus chemicals to bring us to a level of competitive challenge. This sort of stress helps one to deal with the pressures that Sarah currently confronts.
Those events or stimuli that cause stress are called, obviously, stressors. Just stop and wonder for a moment about the range and intensity of stressors with which Sarah is currently dealing. How many are there? How does she cope with them?
Cary Cooper, a British psychologist who has a huge research background in stress, recently reported on his study of stress in politicians. The study found that six months after taking up office, politicians were reporting elevated levels of stress. The signs included loss of confidence, sleeping problems, drinking and eating too much, feeling constantly under strain and showing increasing lack of motivation. The reasons for the stress were clear: a large workload, up to 70 hours work per week, a lot of travel, and very little time with family.
Despite the fact that Sarah Palin is fully engaged in the presidential campaign, she still has a lot of local responsibilities. There are criticisms that she is not attending to her role as Governor of Alaska. She has other unresolved issues that confront her, for example, what they call Troopergate. This is the issue over her involvement in the employment of her former brother-in-law. As well, she has responsibilities as a mother, for example, her son's deployment and her daughter's pregnancy. All of these add to the pressure she must be experiencing.
But there are other sources of stress as well. Sarah has been thrust on to the political and international stage. While there is no doubt that she has the background and skill to handle Alaskan issues, political journalists have questioned her credibility in national and international affairs. Given the current bailout and economic crisis, how competent is she to address major financial issues? Given Russia's recent incursion into Georgia, can she handle sophisticated diplomatic negotiations? Does she have enough understanding of the taxation system at the national level?
Constant tension and uncertainty could lead to feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence. Being interviewed repeatedly on a wide range of issues can be challenging for extremely experienced politicians. Criticism in the media and unfair representation in cartoons can destabilize a politician quickly.
So, how does Sarah Palin handle stress? What strategies does she used to manage the tension? These are the questions which would make for a fascinating interview. My educated guess would be that she uses many productive stress management strategies. Many of these strategies would derive from a high-level of emotional self-awareness and a strong sense of purpose.
If Sarah were to be Vice President, how effectively would she be able to manage all the complicated and constant stressors of that office? What would be the strategies that she would employ? I believe that her strong sense of God's purpose in her life is the fundamental basis for her self-assurance. There is no question that she is ambitious and driven. She is a competitor and enjoys the challenge of competition. She has the support of the First Dude, her husband Todd Palin. She has a strong sense of conviction about what is right and wrong and she has a built a strong base for herself as a reformer. All of these fundamental values and beliefs provide Sarah Palin with excellent stress management strategies.
I live in Anchorage, Alaska some 40 miles from Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla. This doesn't really give me any credentials to comment on Sarah except that our local media is bombarded daily with stories about her vice presidential nomination and activities. So, as a psychologist who is interested in stress, I began to wonder what strategies Sarah uses to manage the incredible pressures that she currently confronts.
When you think of the multiple roles that Sarah Palin fulfils you would have to wonder how effectively she manages all the stress in her public and private life. Besides the presidential campaign, she has multiple other roles to fulfil and her current daily schedule must be exhausting for her. Despite this, she always looks incredibly upbeat and excited on television. The question we ask for now and later if she becomes Vice President is: how does she manage all the stress?
If a person's system is constantly stressed, there are many negative side-effects. These are caused by the neurochemicals that cause us to be in a state of what has been called fight or flee. Sustained stress has many negative correlates, for example, headaches, inability to speak well in public, loss of confidence, and general strain. Sarah Palin seems to rely on what is called eustress. This is good positive stress which uses all the stimulus chemicals to bring us to a level of competitive challenge. This sort of stress helps one to deal with the pressures that Sarah currently confronts.
Those events or stimuli that cause stress are called, obviously, stressors. Just stop and wonder for a moment about the range and intensity of stressors with which Sarah is currently dealing. How many are there? How does she cope with them?
Cary Cooper, a British psychologist who has a huge research background in stress, recently reported on his study of stress in politicians. The study found that six months after taking up office, politicians were reporting elevated levels of stress. The signs included loss of confidence, sleeping problems, drinking and eating too much, feeling constantly under strain and showing increasing lack of motivation. The reasons for the stress were clear: a large workload, up to 70 hours work per week, a lot of travel, and very little time with family.
Despite the fact that Sarah Palin is fully engaged in the presidential campaign, she still has a lot of local responsibilities. There are criticisms that she is not attending to her role as Governor of Alaska. She has other unresolved issues that confront her, for example, what they call Troopergate. This is the issue over her involvement in the employment of her former brother-in-law. As well, she has responsibilities as a mother, for example, her son's deployment and her daughter's pregnancy. All of these add to the pressure she must be experiencing.
But there are other sources of stress as well. Sarah has been thrust on to the political and international stage. While there is no doubt that she has the background and skill to handle Alaskan issues, political journalists have questioned her credibility in national and international affairs. Given the current bailout and economic crisis, how competent is she to address major financial issues? Given Russia's recent incursion into Georgia, can she handle sophisticated diplomatic negotiations? Does she have enough understanding of the taxation system at the national level?
Constant tension and uncertainty could lead to feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence. Being interviewed repeatedly on a wide range of issues can be challenging for extremely experienced politicians. Criticism in the media and unfair representation in cartoons can destabilize a politician quickly.
So, how does Sarah Palin handle stress? What strategies does she used to manage the tension? These are the questions which would make for a fascinating interview. My educated guess would be that she uses many productive stress management strategies. Many of these strategies would derive from a high-level of emotional self-awareness and a strong sense of purpose.
If Sarah were to be Vice President, how effectively would she be able to manage all the complicated and constant stressors of that office? What would be the strategies that she would employ? I believe that her strong sense of God's purpose in her life is the fundamental basis for her self-assurance. There is no question that she is ambitious and driven. She is a competitor and enjoys the challenge of competition. She has the support of the First Dude, her husband Todd Palin. She has a strong sense of conviction about what is right and wrong and she has a built a strong base for herself as a reformer. All of these fundamental values and beliefs provide Sarah Palin with excellent stress management strategies.
About the Author:
Dr Jeff, a psychologist, a stress consultant. Given all the media attention about Sarah Palin as the VP candidate, he started to wonder about how well she manages stress. Sarah has effective stress reduction strategies. Check out his free stress book .
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