Are You Prepared To Handle Stress?

Stress may always be in our lives.  Is stress all bad?  I don’t think so.  Stress can catapult us into extreme focus at a time when it is necessary, such as in an emergency.  Is it possible that stress is only negative when we don’t know how to handle it? Are there better ways to manage it? I think so and there is an emergency room  (ER) physician that can show us how,

Crazy Busy Lives

I recently heard a TEDx talk by Dr. Darria Long, an ER physician, on triaging your “crazy busy” life.  She spoke about how we go around saying our lives are crazy busy like it is a badge of honor, and it is a good thing.  Are we addicted to our crazy busy lives and attached to this stress unnecessarily?

Dr. Darria spoke about how being in a crazy busy state of life will increase the amount of stress hormones that are released into the body and that is a health threat.   She spoke about her experience of being an ER physician and that stress is always present to some degree.

Triage Your Stress

Being a nurse, I loved the way she triaged/categorized the events and stressors in the ER into three categories:

• Red – immediately life-threatening
• Yellow - serious but not life-threatening
• Green – minor

After listening to this talk, I realized that I have carried with me this ability to “triage” my life and my work.  When life gets overwhelming, I seem to naturally triage and do the most important item first and proceed methodically to the next important thing. I can let go of the minor things for a while as well. 

Focus is Key

Another idea I had as I compared my nursing experience with my life experience, is that when you are in a medical emergency you are extremely focused and only the immediate world exists.  I find that in coaching clients a factor that compounds their crazy busy life is worrying about what others think, fear of missing out as well as comparing to others.  These ideas don’t exist in an emergency!

Be Prepared and Drop the Stress

Dr. Long spoke about how in the ER numerous processes and checklists are in place so that they are prepared for all possible scenarios.  They are always in Ready/Prepared Mode not in Crazy Mode.  She speaks about how we can transfer from Crazy Mode to Ready Mode in our own lives.

Crazy Mode

She says Crazy Mode is where we react to everything as Red!  She suggests that we get clear on what our Reds are and address those first and not get distracted by those non-Red tasks.  The idea is to expect and design for Crazy Mode by getting processes in place and making tasks easier to do.  Reduce the number of decisions you need to make, for example:

• Plan all meals for the week on the weekend.
• Automate everything you can. Set up recurring calendar events, saved lists, recurring purchases in online shopping.
• Co-locate – store things according to the activity like equipment needed for workouts, paperwork, files, and spreadsheets for paying bills.
• Decrease temptations – like sugar cravings which can send you into Crazy Mode and self-medicate. Stop working your willpower, design differently. Put sugar items out of reach like having to reach chocolate in an upper cabinet.
• Get out of your head – Crazy Mode is where you are derailed by your inner dialogue.
  • We all get scared and nervous, but it matters what you do next.
  • Don’t catastrophize or stress out because you can’t solve anything with that inner dialogue.
  • Get out of your mind and focus on the event or other person in need of attention.
  • Prime your brain with compassion and you will disrupt the tunnel vision and internal monologue. That will widen your perception so your brain can take in broader information and you will see more possibilities allowing you to make better decisions. 
  • Get out of your head and get out of your own way!

So, with some practice and focus you can go from Crazy Mode to Ready & Prepared Mode and be a shining example to others around you. 

Own the busy but stop calling it crazy.  You’ve always had the ability to make this shift but now you are ready and armed for success.

Wishing you peace and calm and that you successfully triage your life!

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