Stress and Career Choice

One of the first things I was told as a Public Relations student is what a hectic and time demanding career Public Relations can be. After graduation, I would be injected into a fast-paced, intense and often stressful environment. I would have to deal with crisis; be able to think critically and quickly and always be on my toes. HOW STRESSFUL!

To ease my mind, I decided to do a bit of research-there have to be a more stressful career choice than PR. Interestingly enough; I stumbled upon the top 5 most stressful jobs on NBC.com’s business section.

Any guesses?

1. Enlisted Military Personnel

2. Military General

3. Firefighters

4. Commercial Pilot

5. PR executive

Reading this list helped put things into perspective for me. Suddenly my career choice didn’t seem so stressful after all. While of course my chosen career path comes with its own set of stresses, these pale in comparison to what others’ career choices entail. Being responsible directly or indirectly for human life must be an intensely stressful burden.

So how do they cope?

Among the most effective treatments for those in these high stress careers was outside social support. A study within the 2009 edition of The Journal of Social Change concluded that those working in very intense environments such as policing and firefighting would find the most stress relief by utilizing such services as the talk therapy and a regular fitness program. Moreover, these strategies for stress relief have long term physical health benefits; and have possibly been linked to preventing heart attack and PTSD (Journal for Social Change; 2009).

While its clear what the obvious stressors are in professions such as policing and firefighting....please feel free to comment on what the stressors are in your profession and how you deal with them.