In the movies, we have often seen a character receive a shock, clutch his heart, and fall to the ground in a heart attack. No one thinks life’s daily hassles are dramatic, but in fact they can be just as deadly as a major shock.

1. Hassles and the havoc they can create
In the movies, we have often seen a character receive a shock, clutch his heart, and fall to the
ground in a heart attack.
No one thinks life’s daily hassles are dramatic, but in fact they can be just as deadly as a major
shock.
Real crises, such as having your house burn down, activate the stress
response. So do hassles, those little everyday life events that
temporarily frustrate. They also narrow our thinking so that we
believe we are in a crisis when, in fact, we are not.
They are much more frequent than real crises, and their effects seem
to snowball.
Being stuck at a railroad crossing while a long train goes by, waiting
on hold on a telephone only to be cut off, spotting a parking place
only to find someone closer has pulled into it, rushing to your desk
to do something important only to discover that the computer screen
is frozen…the list of hassles is endless.
Dr. Richard Lazarus of the University of California at Berkeley
argued in 1984 that such hassles typically cause more human
suffering than major life events. They can even create real major life
events. For example, whether the stress is “real” or not is irrelevant; our bodies go through the
same stress response: heightened blood pressure, increased heart rate, muscular tension, and
more. A little more damage accumulates, and our lives get a little shorter.
What can we do to handle hassles? Remember that only 10% of our stress is due to what happens;
90% is due to how we think about what happens.
Yes, hassles do just “happen”; like the hot night I came home late from a trip, the cab driver refused
to get out of the cab to lift my luggage from the trunk, my bedraggled cat met me in my house
where the air conditioning had clearly gone off earlier in the day, and the mail yielded a second
notice for a parking ticket that I hadn’t received in the first place.
Annoying, yes. Life threatening, no.
One of the ways to protect yourself against “hassle havoc” is to set up systems in advance that work
well and efficiently, even when life doesn’t. Good systems can save you time, and help you to keep
life running smoothly.
For example, set up a map for all your routine errands: the post office, the drug store, the dry
cleaner, the office supply store, etc. Use this route regularly. It will help you to remember all the
little things you need to do to live well.
Put all the things you need to do something about – jacket to be cleaned, shoes to be repaired, sink
stopper to be replaced – in a box near the door or in your car. Keep a small list with you of such

2. things as the numbers for the toner cartridges you use and the odd-shaped bulbs for your odd-
shaped light fixture. Even when you dash out in a panic to do one errand, forgetting about your
other needs, you can still use your time efficiently.
Prepare more food than you need for a given meal; freeze small portions for those “oh, my gosh”
moments.
My routines are what saved me when I returned from my trip filled with all the things I needed to
do, only to find I would instead spend part of the day talking to a repairman for the air conditioner
and then a city clerk about the ticket.
When your “hassle thermometer” rises, take a deep breath and say “Stop it” to yourself.
Then consider these questions:
Is this frustration worth dying for? (A real possibility for those with a tendency to cardiac disease,
but something for everyone to think about.)
And in the long run, what really matters?
Lynette Crane, M.A.(Psychology) and Certified Life Coach,is a Minneapolis-based speaker, writer,
and coach. She has more than 30 years' experience in the field of stress management. She currently
works to provide stress and time pressure solutions to harried women, those women who seek
"Islands of Peace" in their overly-busy lives. Her talks to groups of what she calls "harried women"
are receiving rave reviews. Visit her website at http://www.creativelifechanges.com/ to see more in-
depth articles and to view her programs.