Not horrible, see little benefit in panic other to make fun of.

My rule of thumb is “IF I have NO control over it, I don’t stress over it!!!” On the other side “IF I can fix it, I get busy making things right!!!”

My head is so level you could balance a pool table on it & shoot a fair game.
Stress?
Pah!!
I eat that for breakfast & poop it away before supper.

Definitely.
Others would too.
Times of stress are a contest with Fate.
Lose your head, you will lose the contest. Not good.

@josie -I couldn’t agree with you more. :)

Depends on how much sleep I have had.

Depends. Generally speaking I am levelheaded in most situations and I’ve heard all my life how people admire that about me, so I believe others would say that because they have. When I’m not composed, though, I’m a real mess… like total meltdown mode. I would say 90% of the time it’s about money or a threat to my safety, then I lose my cool bigtime.

I think I’ve said this before, probably many times, but I also think a lot of my personality translates poorly in text if we’ve never met face to face, because I talk plainly about things that people take as anger or upset, but I habitually approach a lot of highly charged topics from a rational place as a defense mechanism and I think it comes across badly in certain contexts.

@ANef_is_Enuf -I had to laugh at your answer as I hear the same thing often enough but when I have a meltdown, I go to eleven. XD

It depends entirely on the circumstances. We would all like to believe that we are Brave and Strong and True, but there’s really no way of telling til we’re there. As for whether others think we are levelheaded, that is all about perspective as well, I believe. What we may perceive as one person’s panic, may be seen by others as good sense; what we may see as one person’s leadership skills may be perceived by others as foolhardy arrogance.

To answer your Q, I do what I do and hope nobody gets hurt.

@lucillelucillelucille yeah when I’m all in, I’m all in. haha.

@canidmajor -You inspired another question.

@ANef_is_Enuf -I like that kind of commitment!

@lucillelucillelucille Can’t wait! ;-)

Yes.
Someone has to be in situations that get out of control.

@Inspired_2write -Agreed.

Well, I’m an overthinker so I tend to stress, but when it comes to action in stressful situations, I’m pretty good unless it’s my own family or animals. I need the emotional detachment to stay cool, I suppose.

Level headed pretty much always except if there’s a fire or I think there’s a fire (smoke alarm going off, burnt pot on stove, etc.).

Yes I am. I’ve been through so much, if I wasn’t I guess I’d be dead by now if I wasn’t.

You can still be level headed even if there is a fire or an earthquake. I kept my cool even when my son was stuck in an old time mail slot, the kind that delivers the mail right into your living room, and my friends smoke dectors started screaming. His arm was stuck in the slot. I was prepared to very level headedly chains saw a giant ass hole in the side of their house to get him out!....then my friend came rusing out to say that she had just burnt some potatoes and there was no fire and first responders were on the way. It’s a hilarious story! Wasn’t at the time but it is now.

I am very good in a crisis. Accident, medical emergency, hospital stay, hospice, elder care — I’m your guy.

Ongoing, heavy, day to day stress though — I’m not great at all.

Yes. But only after a brief period of “woe unto me dramatics” had passed.

@mazingerz88 That cracked me up :)

I am truly grateful for my heart to be honest…for not quitting on me in times of stress which were legion. I’m not taking care of it as much as I should though. Wait. That actually makes me an ungrateful bastard!

Yes. I don’t get wound up about much. Years ago, one of my managers at the nuke plant told me that others on site had told him when he took this job that I was to “country club”. I had to ask what that meant. Apparently he was being told I didn’t take the job seriously and thought it was some sort of game or something. He had been in his position for about 3 months at that point so I asked him if he felt that was an accurate assessment. He said no…I just don’t get flustered. When things are going crazy and everyone is getting uptight, I’m just dealing with the issues and solving the problems without a lot of fanfare. Everyone else might be getting stressed but I was always calm. Maybe my time in the service helped with that as well…I don’t know. Had some very stressful situations there and never lost my cool…just dealt with them.

@mazingerz88 -Get on it! :)

I’m probably similar to @cookieman. I think I’m good in crisis situations because my mind automatically explores many different paths all at once, and my priorities are clear. For a short while, I can access energy reserves I didn’t even know about. I also suddenly become highly skilled at using my ressources and asking for support.

In daily life, those same qualities make it hard for me to handle stressors. When there’s no fires to put out, pondering on everything that could happen is just a form of ruminating. And clear priorities are nice in theory, but they can cause burn-out when they inevitably clash, or when they replace what should be the number one priority at all times: self-care.

@longgone -You sound a lot like my brother. <<HUGS>>

@longgone: That is exactly how I am. Your description is perfect. We should form a club with @lucillelucillelucille

Most of the time, yes I am. But then again it depends on what has happened., what I have walked in on. My parents used to say that I’d attack a buzz saw. The first time they said this I was like: “WTF. You’re crazy.” Then I thought about it: Yeah, I guess I would. If I had a
sledgehammer and swinging room yeah I would attack it. If I saw some asshole beating on someone smaller and weaker, yeah I’d do whatever it took to stop the attack.

@cookieman Yes. And we should have regular meetings, in a treehouse, with cookies and comic books. Because we wouldn’t want to disappoint each other, we would make time for those. And what better self-care than a friendly meetup with cookies?

@lucillelucillelucille Please invite your brother, too!

@longgone -You’d probably like him! He’s a lot of fun:)

@longgone: That might be the nicest invitation I’ve ever had.

I have an acquaintance on Facebook. I don’t even know where she came from, and we have 0 friends in common.
Last evening she went on a freaking rant about people playing games on Facebook instead of stressing about the virus! She was insisting that we should feel the same way that she does…stressed and panicked.
I removed her from my friend’s list. I don’t need that bullshit in my life.

I see all sorts of people in local groups ranting and raving about how “people aren’t taking this seriously and lives are at stake!” It’s like, you can control yourself, you can’t control the others so don’t stress too much over what the others do. They’re having parties, they’re out and about, they’re looking to shop, why stress over what they’re doing.

@jca2 -Yep. :)

Exactly @jca2. People like that like to pretend they’re concerned about others, but it reality they are very narcissistic. She was yelling that we need to be of some benefit to the community. I’m like, “How? We’ve been ordered to stay at home!”