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06/23/2005: "Reading Right Now: Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers"

I finally finished reading Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. (It’s a good book, I've just been busy with other stuff.)

What sticks with me most from this morning’s 2 am reading (couldn’t sleep, too stressed) is that it’s best to keep your coping strategies flexible but that we tend to think that if an approach isn’t working that we just need to try harder.

So, what is the healthiest approach?

“Coping responses built around fixed rules and flexible strategies. This requires that we fight a reflex common to most of us. If something bad is happening and our attempts to cope are not working, one of the most common responses is to, well, go back in there and just try twice as hard to cope in the usual way. Although that sometimes does the trick, that’s rare. During times of stress, finding the resources to try something new is really hard and is often just what’s needed.” (p.412)

It’s that last line that particularly struck me in the wee small hours. “During times of stress, finding the resources to try something new is really hard and is often just what’s needed.” Faced with chronic stress and my usual strategies not working, I’ve been thinking of trying something new, making a change.

For more of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, check out these earlier posts:
http://www.selenathomason.com/bblog/archives/00000030.html
(part of the lost ones, so it’s far down the page, the 3-11 post)
and Recommended Books at
http://www.selenathomason.com/bblog/archives/00000008.html