Torch, Fall 1984

~, .... _, ( ' - - w /LI - - - - --- "\ \ I I I / ----- -- • • LL' - (r I(/ - ....- ~If Hitting the Haystack by Dr. Pamela S . Diehl 10 \ 1 ~ ___..--~.fl '1 V --,_ - - __ -""? - ...:, I'\\~ / - ~ I '\ ,., - - - ~ - - -- - \. -----1 I ,( ...... -- ----- - tf { I I '1'' /il / t I -- - I Ju ' ol/1 /[ R emember the "good/bad" jokes that made the rounds several years ago? Did you hear about the fellow who finally took his very first airplane ride? Oh , that's good! No , that's bad. The plane lost all power and crashed. Oh , that ' s bad! No , that's good. He had a parachute and he jumped before the plane crashed. Oh , that's good! No, that's bad. His parachute didn't open. Oh , that's bad! No, that's good. There was a large haystack on the ground below him. Oh , that's good! No, that's bad. There was a pitchfork in the haystack. Oh, that ' s bad! No, that's good. He missed the pitchfork. Oh, that's good! No, that's bad, because he missed the haystack . Stress is very much like a "good/bad" joke: we cannot live without it, yet we face a real challenge to successfully live with it. Laboratory studies indicate that animals kept in totally stress-free environments die from lack of stimulation, but that those exposed to too much die from the results of stress . Since good and bad stresses are an inevitable part of life, it behooves us to become knowledgeable about them so we can "miss the pitchfork but hit the haystack!"