How to Regain Traction and Control During Crisis

How to Regain Traction and control during Crisis

This coronavirus has taken us out at the knees. It has uprooted our clarity, certainty and sense of stability.

I read an article that said we may actually be feeling the stages of grief as a result of the changes in lifestyle, our work status and in some cases our financial situation.

If you want to check out the article it’s HERE. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/26/820304899/coronavirus-has-upended-our-world-its-ok-to-grieve

It started out with explaining it like this:

“This is crazy, it won’t affect us”-Denial

“I can’t believe how stupid people are being” -Anger

“If we could all just buy what we need, and stay inside it would be fine”-Bargaining

“This sucks”- Depression

“This isn’t so bad, I can clean my house, call my friends, create some things, read, journal and find ways to fill my time” -Testing

Finally, acceptance.

Acceptance for some of us, means finding a new normal.

With that being said, I certainly have felt the stages of grief and I defiantly feel out of control right now.

John C. Maxwell has an awesome video training about traction versus distraction. We are distracted now. Check out the whole thing https://johnmaxwellteam.com/replay-maxwell-leadership-virtual-summit

Basically, traction and distraction are technically opposites and when we think about them in this way, we can regain traction again.

It reminds me, of a time when Zack and I went fishing several years ago. I accidentally bent down and filled my waders with water and the current swept me off my feet. Suddenly, I was floating down river uncontrollably. I lost traction.

I was terrified and completely at the mercy of the river current. What I did, was wait until I got my wits about me. I could tell there was a shallower area on the river coming up. When I got there, I plunged one foot down until I found bottom. This sort of ejected me upright and forced me to take several more steps with the river current. Basically, I was running downstream with the river current until I could make my way to a shallow spot and stand up.

In hindsight, it was good I started running down river or else the current would have pushed me under again.

I feel like this is what we are going through with the coronavirus. Right now, we have been taken out at the knees and we are all flailing downstream out of control. Eventually, we will need to plunge a foot down to the bottom and start running downstream until we can get our wits about us.

Whether it’s a fishing crisis or the coronavirus, we have a choice we can either start running along with the current or continue floating along, out of control.

So how do we actually regain control during a crisis?

When it comes to taking control of uncomfortable situations Brene Brown is the expert.

Her new podcast Unlocking Us talks about FFT which are Effing First times. FFT’s are tough because as humans, we don’t like to be out of control or feel unfamiliarity. Check out the whole thing https://brenebrown.com/podcast/introducing-unlocking-us/

So what do we do?? Brene says we should:

1. Declare it an FFT

2. Take a step back and regroup

3. Redefine goals and realistic expectations

Declare that this global pandemic is new for us, it’s an FFT and acknowledge that it is okay to feel uncomfortable.

As we sort our way through the stages of grief then we can take a step back and re-group.

Asking ourselves the following questions can help ourselves to sort through this.

What does social distancing look like?

How will it change my life?

How can I still see my loved ones?

How can I work around these new guidelines to maintain some sense of normalcy?

With that being said, what is our new normal?

All of these answers are subjective and so you get to decide what this means for you, and what it looks like for your family.

Remember to take time to feel your feelings, give yourself grace and when you are ready plunge your feet into the sand, find a “new normal” that works for you.