Well, here we are. I’m heading into week three of social distancing and work from home. It’s a tough adjustment for a lot of people. These times of uncertainty can lead to stress.
What is stress, exactly? It’s our brain and body’s reaction to a perceived threat. You see, humans have evolved to focus on the negative in order to be aware of anything that might be threatening to our survival. That hypervigilance has evolved to keep us safe. Fast forward to today, and we don’t have those same types of survival needs in our modern world, but our brain doesn’t really know that.
When we perceive something as threatening (job loss, health concerns, food stores running low, global recession, etc.), our logical thinking gets hijacked by the fear centre in the brain. Our body goes into fight or flight mode in order to prepare us to stay and fight or to turn and run. When in fight or flight, our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and muscle tension all increase. In this mode, we are not able to think as logically because our reptilian brain has taken over in survival mode and we lose activity in our frontal cortex, the area which allows us to plan and think clearly.
Now if we think about job loss, potential health concerns, global recessions, or anything related to the world we are living in right now, those things are not an immediate threat to our safety and survival. Sure, they may be a threat in the future, but currently, there is absolutely nothing we can do to fight or run from these factors. These things are just the reality of the world we are living in. Logically, it does not make sense for us to live in fight or flight mode regarding some future or perceived threat. So how can we work around it?
There are a lot of strategies we can use to help us fight stress, anxiety, and panic. These strategies are best practiced outside of when we’re having a full-blown moment of anxiety because, as I mentioned above, our brain doesn’t think very logically when we’re in in that mode.
It’s important to investigate and know our thoughts. What thoughts or images do we have that provoke our stress response? What-if statements like “What if I lose my job?” or “What if I get sick and die?” are catastrophic and future-focused thinking patterns that lead to more stress.
Worry is normal during times of uncertainty; if we investigate our worries, we can determine if they are problems we can solve right now. Psychology Tools calls these real-problem worries. Worries about problems that are in the future or unknown are hypothetical worries. Worry about hypothetical situations does not do us any good, and in fact causes more suffering in the moment. It triggers our stress response and sends us into a whirlwind of panic, preparing our bodies to fight or run… but there is nothing to actually fight or run from. Real-problem worries are those we can do something about. If the worry is a real-problem, we can take the time to work it out right now. If not, or if we can’t do anything about it right now, it’s best to let the worry go. This is easier said than done.
Once we know the thoughts and worries that trigger stress, we can do something about them. Although we usually don’t have control over the situation that causes us stress, we do have control over how we react, or better yet respond, to them. Instead of jumping into worrisome or catastrophic thinking patterns, we can talk back to our thoughts to change them. For instance “It’s natural for me to be concerned about my future but for now I have a job so I can focus on doing my best while I’m at work,” or “Although there is a very real reason to be afraid during this pandemic, I can do my best to keep myself safe by social-distancing, hand-washing and staying home.”
We can also use the RAIN method to help sort through our thoughts:
R-recognize what is going on in the mind and body
A-allow things to be, just as they are (accept)
I-investigate with kindness (use compassion and curiosity rather than judgement)
N-non-identification (I am NOT my thoughts).
Another method to dealing with stress is to change our physiology. We can change our behaviour to make ourselves feel better if we are unable to change our thoughts, or can’ seem to get out of that spiral of worry. We can physically get up, move our bodies, do something different and remove ourselves from the current situation. By doing this, the thoughts and stress will pass as we focus on something different and start to feel differently by moving our bodies.
When those stressful thoughts start to creep in as we are physically doing something different, practicing mindfulness can help. We can use all our senses to experience what we are doing. We can pour all of our attention into the task. When thoughts, worries, emotions or physical sensations come up, as they inevitably will, we can turn our attention back to what we were doing. It’s a great technique to be more in the moment.
Managing stress in times of uncertainty is not easy. Practicing good self-care, staying connected, being active, and practicing mindfulness are all ways we can manage stress.
And so it is.
If you would like some help managing stress, please contact me to join our 3-part stress management series on Zoom.
Because together, we rise.