Type As: The Self-Stressing Machines
Our Personalities Determine How We Respond To Stress, But We're Not Helpless
In this column: Are people born with Type A personalities? And can they help themselves? Some people take everyday stresses in stride. They handle deadlines and pressure with great calm and ease.  For others, stress makes them feel ballistic, ready to implode. One man can sit in a traffic jam, only mildly irritated, while another man wants to leap out of his car and scream profanities at the top of his lungs. Do you frequently find fault with and criticize other people? Do you perceive life's little aggravations as personal threats? Do you come unhinged just thinking about the plumber's next visit? Do you frequently feel like taking a baseball bat and breaking someone's windshield when their car gets too close to yours? If so, you may have a Type A personality. Take an online test at Queendom to find out if you are a Type A. Click here. Blame It On The Other Guy  My medical colleagues like to blame their weekly outbursts and temper tantrums on their Type A personalities. "I can't help myself," one cardiac surgeon recently told me. "I'm a high-energy, perfectionist Type A. It's not my fault that I get so impatient. If people would only do their jobs the way that they are supposed to, I wouldn't have to get angry." My surgeon friend is wrong. Because he is battling vigorously to achieve and maintain control, and because he is a Type A personality, he is his own worst enemy. He generates unnecessary stress for himself and the people around him. He perceives the ordinary ups and downs of life as emotional threats to himself. He triggers his own stress responses, causing his heart rate to go up, his blood pressure to rise and his arteries to constrict. The Type A is a ticking time bomb. How'd We Get This Way?  It seems unlikely that we are born with a Type A personality. Most studies indicate Type A behaviors are learned, it's our way of dealing with and controlling the stress in our environment. Type As are hard driving, hurried and abrupt, often overambitious and over-competitive. They multitask, finish other people's sentences, and hate to waste time. Type As go on vacation with their laptops, cellphones, fax machines and pagers. They helped invent road rage If you suffer with a constant sense of urgency, if you are always trying to do more and more in less and less time, if you are easily angered over trivial events, you may be a Type A. You could be engaging yourself in a constant battle to gain control over your uncontrollable environment. Don't Be So Hard On Yourself To reduce stress and its harmful effects on the body and mind, Type As need to slow down and chill out. - Avoid perfectionism. Just because you can't do each job perfectly, doesn't mean you're a failure. Be content with doing your best. Don't obsess about getting everything 100 percent right all the time.
- Avoid creating unnecessary deadlines. Don't clutter your calendar with appointments. This will keep you from feeling so boxed in.
- Learn to delegate. Reduce your demands at home and at work by assigning tasks to others. Pick the person best-suited to do the job. Make sure he has enough time to devote to it. Give him clear instructions and then back off. Don't hover and fuss.
- Become a better listener. Must you always have the most to say on every topic? Must you have the loudest voice in the room? Sit back with an open mind and glean wisdom from others.
- Don't rush through everything. Take your time. Explore the zen and the art of problem-solving.
Life is not a race you must speed through. And no one is giving you a grade. Learn to turn stressful life events into opportunities for personal growth. And always take time to smell the roses. Ignore the thorns. Postcript: The Other Personalities To read more about personality types, including A, B, C, H, and T, click here Jacqueline Tresl, RN, has worked as a coronary intensive care nurse and a nursing supervisor for over 20 years. For the past three years, she has written about health and happiness for numerous magazines and newspapers. Her first book, "Whoever Heard of a Horse In The House?" is scheduled for release in March 2000.
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