Emotional Hardiness

The concept of hardiness was developed approximately twenty-five years ago, in response to an idea in the literature at the time which suggested that people should avoid stress, or it would harm them physically and mentally (Maddi, 2002). Hardiness can be defined as "...a set of attitudes or beliefs about yourself in interaction with the world around you that provides the courage and motivation to do the hard work of turning stressful changes from potential disasters into opportunities..." (Maddi, 2004, p. 286).

These attitudes, which acted as buffers to stress, consist of commitment, control, and challenge. Commitment can be understood as being disposed to become involved with people, things, events, and contexts, versus being detached or isolated. Control is defined as putting forth effort to have an influence on outcomes around you, despite possible difficulty depending on the circumstances, versus remaining passive, or letting things happen to oneself. Finally, challenge consists of the desire to continually want to learn from one's experiences, positive or negative, in order to make them developmentally fulfilling, versus settling for comfort and security (Maddi, 2002; Maddi, 2004). Maddi and Khoshaba (2000) developed the HardiSurvey III-R as a measure of these attitudes.

In its present form, the hardiness model begins with the idea that as acute and chronic stress increases, a person is more likely to experience a breakdown in wellness. A breakdown in wellness includes not only physical illness, but mental illness and behavioral issues, as well. The model also accounts for individual differences in vulnerability. It asserts that the breakdown will not occur if there are sufficient resistance factors to buffer the stress. These buffers include relaxation, nutrition, and physical exercise, as well as hardy coping. Hardy coping consists of the hardy attitudes described above, as well as hardy social support (receiving assistance and encouragement), as well as placing the stressful circumstances in a broader perspective, and finding or making some meaning from the situation (Maddi, 1999).

How can you increase your hardiness?

1. Increase the amount of and quality of your buffers- social support, relaxation, nutrition, and physical exercise. When we feel stressed, we reach for junk food, exercise goes out the window, some of us take the phone off the hook, and our relaxation consists of American Idol reruns. Try to counter this by taking 5-10 minute walks, chatting with a friend, eating a piece of fruit or drinking more water, and/or trying some deep breathing. Don't make living well an extra stress; instead, keep it easy, and increase these buffers in small ways.

2. Look at what's happening through a lens of challenge. What can you learn from this? What will you definitely NOT do next time around, and what will you do more of? Given your stress, how can you best stack the chips in your favor. Individuals who look at matters as challenges rather than threats have consistently better performances. It may feel phony at first, but the more you practice this outlook, the easier it will be.

3. Get in the game. Identify what you have some control over, and take action, rather than remaining passive. Put forth effort to have an impact on things. You may not succeed, but the very act of doing something often empowers us. Remember- first make sure you have control over it; there's no sense in attempting to have an impact on the weather...