Developing Hardiness
Viktor E. Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist writing from a prison of war camp in Germany during World War II, might be considered an authority on stress.1 Life for the cross-cultural worker is also stressful. Since the triple disaster of 2011, life for many missionaries in Japan has become scarier, more frustrating, and uncertain. This causes a lot of stress. The spiritual aspect of our lives can keep us focused and centered but what can we do in our everyday lives to help in difficult and changing times? One helpful step is to begin to develop “stress resiliency”.
Stress hardiness is being strong, healthy, determined, straightforward, and more importantly, capable of recovery in the midst of stressful situations.2 Note the word “recovery” because it is this quality of hardiness that we so desperately need in our lives today. It is a “mindset” shown by someone that makes them “resistant to the negative impacts of stressful circumstances and events.”3
“Hardiness” is a word employed by health care professionals to evaluate the effects of stress on people caused by their jobs. Hardiness describes that quality or ability to handle stress well, or the aptitude to bounce back after or recover from stressful situations. According to various studies, Rowe4 in particular, health care professionals who exhibit hardiness are able to appraise stressful situations more realistically, and make better adjustments as a result. These studies are informative because health care professionals have some stresses similar to those in ministry, such as low pay, lack of respect, staffing shortages, a low degree of peer support, lack of understanding and support from the administration, and an inability to meet patients’ needs.4
Both health care and ministry are often thought of as “vocations.” Two synonyms for this word “vocation” are words we are more familiar with, “calling” and “mission.”
In these studies, some participants were better able to handle stress and were more resilient to burnout. Interestingly, some people naturally have “stress-hardy” personalities.5 But more importantly, stress hardiness is actually something we can learn.
Rowe describes hardy people as being able to:
- view stress as a decision making challenge,
- emphasize personal choice and responsibility, by
- promoting a meaningful life through decision making and action.
To make this easier, there are three components of hardiness: control, challenge and commitment.
Control doesn’t mean that I can control everything, but rather that I believe and act in a way that can influence others and affect the way things turn out. When things don’t work out, I am willing to figure out why and take responsibility when necessary.
Challenge is based on the belief that change, not stability, is representative of life. Hardy people expect disruptions and use them as opportunities for growth.
Commitment is the ability to believe in the truth, importance and value of what one is doing. This belief wards off the ill effects of stress in one’s life.
Cross-cultural living is stressful, but doesn’t have to overwhelm us. By focusing on control, challenge and commitment, we can begin to develop hardiness under stress. It is no mistake that “courageous” and “robust” are synonyms for hardy. In these challenging times, it takes courage to become robust in dealing with stressful cross-cultural experiences.
1. Man’s Search for Meaning. An Introduction to Logotherapy, Beacon Press, Boston, MA, 2006
2. Farlex, “The Free Dictionary”, http://medical- dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/stress+hardiness
3. Dr. Michael H. Kahn, “What is Hardiness?”, MHK Coaching: Synergy for Success in Work & Personal Life”, 2006-2012, http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/stress+hardiness
4. M. Michelle Rowe, PhD, “Hardiness as a Stress Mediating Factor of Burnout among Healthcare Providers”, http://www.va-ajhs.com/14-1/3.pdf
5. Rowe, Ibid.
6. Rowe, Ibid.
Photos supplied by the author