Turbulence Ahead
When anticipating turbulence helps.
Maybe it's time for a "thought-plan".
When you’re in a plane (remember those?), and the pilot announces over the speaker system that there will be turbulence, it means they see the turbulence ahead of them and they have a plan. The fact that they have a plan gives you confidence that you’ll get through the turbulence. On the other hand, if the plane suddenly lurches, without warning, it leaves you feeling worried about the competence of the pilot and less certain of the outcome.
I borrowed this concept from Jessica Yellin (@jessicayellin on Instagram – News not noise).
What Jessica said made me think was that with the current news cycle, it might be a good time to anticipate the turbulence ahead and have a “thought plan”.
How the thought "It's too much." can derail your day.
Below is an illustration of how a simple thought like, “It’s too much.” can derail your day. When you think it’s all too much, you might feel overwhelmed or fall into despair. This can lead you to numbing yourself or freezing or turning away from everything. Though you wouldn’t say you’ve given up, that’s what it looks like.
You can get back on track.
You can get back on track by acknowledging it’s too much, but tacking on another idea. I like how I feel when I say, “AND I can handle it.” It makes me feel calm and curious. How might I handle it? It helps me focus on what I can do, instead of focusing on all the stuff out there that I can’t control.
While you might argue that being numb isn’t an action, we need to do stuff to get numb (scroll social media, binge television shows, eat and drink too much), All that takes time and energy away from what would actually help you feel better and move forward.
Walk yourself through these two different approaches and see if you can feel the difference. You may have different thoughts or different ideas that you can plug in. The point is to find a way to talk to yourself that is more helpful, that helps you keep moving forward.
Feel your despair. Then get going.
We’re going to feel a bunch of stuff along the way. But, let’s not stay there. We’ll get knocked down, but let’s make a promise to ourselves that we’re going to get back up again.
One way to do that is to notice how this line of thinking gets you down and have a plan to think differently when you find yourself not doing the things you need to do.
You don’t have to push through or beat yourself up. Just slow things down, notice the stories you’re telling yourself, and adjust the story to something that makes you feel better. This will lead to aligned action. It’s not selfish or putting your head in the sand. It’s helping you turn towards what you can do.
Your toolbelt.
The Coaching Framework is a great tool to have in your toolbelt. It can help you feel better. You can also revisit my Self-Care for Troubled Times resource or reach out for a 1:1 conversation with me or someone else in your support system.
