Quiz: What kind of stress-head are you?

By NAT HAWK

Life is full of the moments that make all of us stressed, uncomfortable and… well… sweaty.

Some of us are, of course, better at handling these moments than others. So I’ve put together this fun little quiz to determine exactly what kind of person you are when it comes to dealing with the more panicky situations in life…

1. Your boss emails you, requesting a private meeting with you. She doesn’t tell you what the meeting is about.

You:

a)      Shrug and assume she wants to ask you about the thing you’ve been working on for the last few weeks.

b)      Email back and write something along the lines of, “of course. May I ask what it’s regarding?”

c)       Immediately panic and assume that you’re going to get fired. Start going over everything you’ve done in the last two months and coming up with reasons as to why they are fireable offences. Come up with random defences that may protect you in the meeting: “Yes boss, I did eat three Monte Carlos out of the office cookie jar and I know that they’re everyone’s favourite biscuit. I will endeavor to be more careful with my biscuit choices next time.”

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by NIVEA Stress Protect Clinical Strength Deodorant. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100 per cent authentic and written in their own words.

2. You are on a flight that is scheduled to depart at 4:30pm. It’s currently 3:45 and you are in a taxi that is still about 10km away from the airport, backed up in obscene traffic that won’t be clearing anytime soon.

You:

a)      Decide to hope for the best, sit back in your seat and play on your phone in the meantime.

b)      Get on the phone to the airline to see if you can push your flight further back. While on hold to the airline, you Google-map your exact location to try and establish how viable it would be to walk the rest of the way to the airport.

c)       Start sweating profusely and watching the traffic around you with the eye of a very anxious hawk. Your heart leaps whenever the car in front of you moves, and immediately drops as soon as it stops again. You imagine missing your plane and having to fork out hundreds of dollars on a new flight. By the time you get to the airport, you look like you have run about 15km on a particularly humid day.

3. You have just come home from being out and about all day. You settle down in front of your computer for a spot of online shopping – but reaching into your bag, you realise your wallet is not in there.

You:

a)      Assume it’ll turn up eventually and go to bed early instead.

b)      Track back through your day and eventually figure out that you left it on your desk at work after coming back from lunch.

c)       Get seriously anxious as you think about all the items that were in that wallet that you’ll have to replace. Your heart starts beating faster as you worry about your credit cards and driver’s licence. It was a seriously nice wallet. And it had your favourite Chanel lip gloss in there.

4. You are driving around in the CBD, trying to find a parking spot. It’s peak hour, it’s raining, you’re already fifteen minutes late AND you’re driving an unfamiliar car because your regular car is in for a service.

You:

a)      Sing along to the radio while you slowly and carefully look for a parking spot.

b)      Use your Bluetooth headset to call your friends and let them know you’re running even later, but the first round of drinks is on you in order to make it up to them.

c)       Freak out and promptly burst into tears because this is hard and life is hard and YOU HATE DRIVING IN THE CBD IN PEAK HOUR WHEN IT’S RAINING, WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO STRESSFUL, IT’S ONLY DINNER ANYWAY.

So you got…

Mostly A’s: You are a robot-human. Sorry.

Mostly B’s: You are very logical and reasonable. We probably wouldn’t be friends because I tend to feel bad about myself when around people who are millions of times more logical and reasonable than I am.

Mostly C’s: Ah, a fellow catastrophising comrade. Welcome to my world – where every situation, no matter how insignificant, has the potential to be the WORST THING EVER. You are easily stressed, which generally leads to you sweating, which then causes you more stress, which brings on even more sweat, which then leads to this fun kind of stress-sweat cycle. You end up sweaty, smelly and still-stressed – which, of all the possible combinations of things to be in life, is absolutely one of the worst.

There are a few things that can help us, my friends. Firstly, learn some breathing exercises that immediately calm your nerves and make everything feel a bit better.

Second, print out some inspirational memes – you know the kind, along the lines of “everything will be okay in the end” – and carry them with you everywhere to remind yourself that things rarely end up being disasters.

Third, invest in some good deodorant. When all else fails, it’ll help.

What do you do to calm yourself when you feel your stress levels rising?

And if these three tips aren’t enough, here’s some help from our furry friends …

NIVEA as a trusted skin care expert, has formulated NIVEA Stress Protect Clinical Strength, with their highest concentration and most advanced anti-perspriant ingredients to protect against thermal and stress sweating for 48 hours. It is uniquely formulated with a zinc complex and a combination of anti-perspirant ingredients to provide you with extra protection when you need it – so you can embrace those unexpected stressful moments of your everyday life.

More information can be found at www.nivea.com.au