Managing Stress Under Duress

Early-morning workouts and a toy at his desk help keep Michael Kaiser relaxed at the Kennedy Center. (By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)

Pressure and conflicting demands are built into some jobs. We asked some people with high-anxiety positions how they keep on coping.

· Frank Underwood, 56, of College Park; longtime volunteer firefighter Forty years of responding to emergencies haven't taken the calm out of Frank Underwood's voice. He says he knows he can count on firefighters to watch one another's backs. As for the daily stress of waiting for a call to come into a firehouse, Underwood says he's helped by pulling silly pranks (turning the new guy's suspenders around backward) playing cards and just talking things out. Underwood also goes on a cruise once a year. "I get out of town, and I don't take my pager." The rest of the year, he says, "I work to take stress off. Once you're constantly busy, you're getting things done, it keeps your mind off things.

· Schaun Morgan, 47, of Glenn Dale; wedding planner As owner and operator of Affordable Splendor, Schaun Morgan coordinates about 20 weddings a year. Morgan faces her share of Bridezillas, but she has learned to spot incipient madness and "nip it in the bud." "I sit down with [the bride] and explain that losing your mind over this isn't going to help anybody." On occasion, she has returned a check and backed out.

When stress creeps in nonetheless, her response is, "Keep the massages coming . . . I call [my friends in the industry] and say, 'I need my hair done and the knots worked out of my neck,' " Morgan reports. Oh: Morgan also takes an herbal supplement (peppermint, chamomile and valerian) that's marketed as a stress reliever -- and she shares it when necessary. "I have it in my emergency kit for brides," she says. "It just seems to take out the jitters."

· Michael Kaiser, 53, of the District; president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Michael Kaiser, who just marked his sixth anniversary as Kennedy Center president, is used to worries befitting a world-class arts space: how he'll sell enough tickets to keep the place afloat, whether he'll succeed in raising $70 million annually in private funds to support it. Try as he does to "plan everything -- I don't really like surprises," Kaiser is sometimes caught off guard and admits he's been known to "get angry, slam a door." Sometimes, he says, he cries. Outside the office, Kaiser fights stress in the gym, where he goes early every morning. His workout varies -- these days it's fast treadmill walking on a steep incline. "It makes me feel I've accomplished the most difficult thing on Earth before I go to the office." Kaiser, a New York Giants fan, adds that "watching sports is a huge stress reliever." What else helps? "I don't smoke, drink or do drugs. I do art. Going to performances is a stress reliever; seeing something beautiful. I would suggest it to all your readers."

· Kieron Heflin, 40, of Manassas; air traffic controller at Dulles International Airport To hear him tell it, orchestrating takeoffs and landings at one of the nation's busiest airports is actually the least stressful part of Kieron Heflin's job. In the tower, he says, "I feel confident and comfortable. That doesn't let the stress in."

So where does his stress come from? "The labor-management relationship creates stress," Heflin says. Okay, sure, there are times when the work itself gets rough: When the eastern seaboard's weather keeps flights grounded, pilots clamor to be cleared for takeoff. "We have no way to get them through that weather," Heflin says. "We're asked to do the impossible, and when you can't do the impossible, I find that stressful." To burn off excess adrenaline while on duty, he tries to take a 10-minute walk around the break room. (Recent rules prohibit controllers' leaving the tower building, Heflin says.) At home and on vacation, physical activity does the trick, from long walks to yard work, playing hockey and going skiing. "I try to forget work when I'm away from it, cleanse those thoughts out of my head."

-- Jennifer Huget