After 9/11, a friend started struggling with high levels of stress and near panic attacks. Although they were not personally impacted by the events themselves, they fell victim to the never-ending barrage of 24 hour news reports, speculation, and fear. Everything in the news was so dark and negative that it took them along for the ride. I saw the same thing happen to people when Covid-19 became a crisis in North America.
Dramatic events can turn confirmation bias into a weapon that can push us into fight or flight , even when we are not in direct or immediate threat. In confirmation bias, we reinforce our beliefs and opinions by limiting ourselves, intentionally or unintentionally, to sources that agree with our preconceived notions. During the major public crisis, we become overwhelmed with fear-based messaging and news from nearly all sources. The confirmation bias here comes from a constant reinforcement of fear and risk from social and news. At some point, we start to fall victim to the fear and start panicking based on volume rather than accuracy, importance, or reliability.
We can experience the same spiral at work when we are on a project that is failing, teams under a bad manager, reorgs, mergers, or when a company is struggling financially. We become inundated with the problems which leads to declining team morale. Eventually, the volume of negativity can win us over.
There are a few tips which may help you maintain your emotional fitness during a crisis and bounce back faster.
Phone a friend – a positive one
Whether it is a friend or mentor, talking through challenges is one way to get validation and relieve the stress associated with the crisis. It can also serve as a reality check to pull you out of the confirmation bias. The key here is to select people you have a trusting relationship with and who have a positive outlook. Talking with someone in panic mode will only reinforce your fear.
Make a plan before the crisis
The simple act of having a plan can dramatically reduce stress. It doesn’t need to be a detailed or specific plan, but just a simple plan on what you might do in different situations. You can then take steps to make sure the plan can be executed when the time comes. Here’s a couple examples I use.
- Your car breaks down or you can’t travel by car: I have AAA for towing if the problem is the car and not roads being blocked. In the car I keep a backpack with old tennis shoes, jacket, first aid kit, snack bars, water bottles, duct tape, and flashlights. I can hold out 3 days before worrying about supplies.
- Mentally rehearse a scenario: I hate conflict or being reprimanded. When I have a meeting, which could go that direction, I start mentally rehearsing scripts for different people and how I’d react. My mind can come up with far worse things than ever pop up in the meeting. The result is that I already have responses and questions ready to go, and I’m not nearly as worried about the outcome.
Unplug from the volume
The minute you find yourself giving in to the worry or panic, unplug from the information and set limits. You don’t need to check for news and social updates every 10 minutes, that only sustains the fight/flight reaction. Instead, set a schedule to check and limit your input. The rate and depth of my media plan varies depending on the severity and volatility of the situation. Pandemic: twice a day would be more than enough. Severe storms: Every 4 hours up to 12 hours out, hourly until 2 hours out, and every 15 minutes while we are in the path. The important part is unplugging from the fear factor. If your social thread is jokes and humor, then it will help pull you out of a funk. Fearmongers feed off disasters and your energy, so please don’t feed the bears.
Become a prepper
No, not a crazy doomsday prepper like the TV shows, but simply someone who has taken steps to be a little better prepared if bad things happen. You already are one; we are just expanding planning to more areas and longer durations. Don’t believe me? Do you have a purse, wallet, backpack, or briefcase? That is your daily prepping. Everything you think you will probably need or want to have on hand. Have a snow or hurricane kit? Same thing. Just expand the types of problems and duration you want to have a plan for. That’s it! It’s just like working towards 3-6 months of emergency savings.
For me, this was a big stress reliever. Once I became prepared to handle short term job disruption or minor disasters, it left me with far fewer problems to worry about. Now I could concentrate more time trying to figure out what I said that offended someone or why my clutter in the house is bad and other people’s is OK. Sorry, tangent there, but you know what I mean.
When Covid-19 became a reality, I used these four tips to help keep myself calm and focused. I looked at my plans and decided which ones were in play. I took those plans and determined what needed to change or what I was missing based on the current circumstances. I continued to repeat this evaluation twice a day as conditions changed until I hit a stability plateau.
What was I missing? 1. Information to help support and calm friends (I’m the phone a friend for some peers and used my own too.). 2. If our house might be the working location for others, we needed critical supplies: cake, cookies, nachos, and a couple other fun things (like a new Lego set) to make the week more party and less bunker. 3. Reach more people and help them through this. That’s why I’m writing this blog on the first day of the national isolation holiday and updated my survival guide here: https://hanseckman.com/guides/prepping-for-the-zombie-apocalypse-or-just-being-better-prepared-for-disasters/.
Honestly, I found myself giving in to the fear and having the desire to ditch my plan and join the panic. (Do I need more toilet paper when we already buy for 3 months at a time because I hate shopping?) I went back to my plan, reduced my news/social time, and found myself calm again several hours later. It’s a slippery slope, and a plan can be your best anchor.
What other techniques have you used to help avoid falling prey to bad news and worry? Share them here.
As with everything, this too will pass. You are going to be just fine, and even if you aren’t, you will recover.
Don’t panic, don’t panic, please stop panicking!
