Weird question: How are your stress levels living in Portland? (Forest Grove: 2013, rent)

[dent_arthur_dent]

I am curious to hear from Portland residents -- especially those who have lived elsewhere -- about how life in Portland rates in terms of stress. Do you feel stressed there? If so, what are the factors that contribute to this? If not, why not?

[EnricoV]

I'm not a very high-stress sort of person, but I don't feel any stress. Portland's pretty laid back. To me, it has the feel of a small town, rather than a large city.

[skiffrace]

Hullo Mr. Dent
This is an interesting question, that is not often asked. To start, we obviously need to differentiate between personal stress due to personal circumstances (ex. family), and the stress caused by the environment, and your question is pertinent to the second. Le't brake it down into some major categories.

Crime. It depends on crime type and location. Violent crime is low throughout the PDX metro area (except a few pockets in the East side). Property crime is low to nonexistent on the West side and in many of the suburbs, somewhat present on the East side- cars or houses broken into or vandalized, occasional hate crime (which in Portland is black gangs assaulting white bystanders http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/...d_in_unpr.html). All in all, the crime is however not a major stressor around here.

Noise. It also depends on location. Downtown, or proximity to major street will elevate this type of stress. Overall it is low as well (Portland is not NYC)

Traffic. High and getting worse. One cannot simply up an go from point A to point B, unless you plan to spend a lot of time sitting in traffic. You have to strategize (where am I going?, what time of day it is?, if it's morning I need to chose route A, otherwise route B etc). Living near the place of employment and other frequent activities is crucial. BTW, there are some who claim the traffic in PDX "is not that bad". They either came from cities with the worst traffic in US (ex. Los Angeles) or simply love to sit in their cars, moving 16 MPH (average speed on PDX freeways).

Climate. Other than bad economy and lack of jobs, this is # 1 reason people leave this region, or refuse to settle here. There are some who claim they love the perpetual darkness and rain, others that they got used to it. It may be even true, for a while. Eventually, the sun and light deprivation and SAD catches up with almost anyone. In some cases it takes 2 months, in others 15. The exception would be the people who were born and raised in climate like this, and are born "immune" to its effects.
Practically the entire population has major vitamin D deficiency, although most don't realize it. Taking supplements is critical.

Any other major stress factors to think of...?

[urbanlife78]

I lived a fairly low stress life in Portland even though I had a high stress job. Usually a couple of beers after work with friends helped cure that.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

If you don't pay any attention to what's going on around you, for example, having a job that pays the bills, politics, taxes, utitlity costs, infrastructure maintenance, city government and beauracracy, and just the general state of things in Portland, and limit your exposure to cycling, beer, foodcarts, farmer's markets, artsy fartsy saturday markets and stuff like that, life in Portland is really not that stressful.

You can actually have a good time living in the Portland "bubble".

[Deezus]

Most people I know get stressed first and foremost about their job in Portland. That's what people stress about the most-either the state of their job or having to look for one.

Stressed about traffic? Most people I know who live in Portland don't worry about that as most people I know live and work in Portland. The ones that work in outer suburbs just get up super early to commute(people who work at Intel or Nike or teachers commuting to the furthest suburbs to teach). The people who complain about traffic are those I work with who live way out in the suburbs and have to commute back from downtown to Wilsonville or Battleground or Forest Grove or some other long commute(for Portland anyways).

People are concerned about infrastructure or city government as much as it directly affects them personally in their neighborhood, but it rarely seems to stress people out. All politics is local--as local as your block at times. People complained about the trash pickup change, but I don't remember anyone being stressed about it.

[oldtintype]

I've lived in San Francisco and Portland (and a few other places). Compared to San Francisco Portland's stress level is much less. In SF even going to the post office was stressful. Little things make life a lot easier here. There are also trade offs for there being less stress such as it's a smaller city with less options.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

If you don't pay any attention to what's going on around you, for example, having a job that pays the bills, politics, taxes, utitlity costs, infrastructure maintenance, city government and beauracracy, and just the general state of things in Portland, and limit your exposure to cycling, beer, foodcarts, farmer's markets, artsy fartsy saturday markets and stuff like that, life in Portland is really not that stressful.

You can actually have a good time living in the Portland "bubble".

That is basically a description of my single years in Portland. I made more than enough to cover rent and bills, with plenty left over to drink regularly and plan random trips throughout the year. Now that I am married, I plan on being more of an Oregonian when I move back, lots more camping, hiking, and fishing.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

I've lived in San Francisco and Portland (and a few other places). Compared to San Francisco Portland's stress level is much less. In SF even going to the post office was stressful. Little things make life a lot easier here. There are also trade offs for there being less stress such as it's a smaller city with less options.

Funny thing with stress is that it is all relative. A friend of mine moved from high stress in NYC to a more low stress SF and was just shocked at how different the work environment was. Though for people on the west coast, SF would be a much higher stress level than many west coast cities.

[christiner81]

when we were in portland i found the commute aspect stressful. I took public transportation, which by itself was great. But having to leave the house early, get to my bus stop and wait takes a lot of time out of my day, which is what ultimately stresses me out. I like having a flexible schedule but my commute did not allow for that.

my husband has a very stressful job, but I'd attribute that to his particular position, not necessarily his employer or anything local per se.