Calm in the Midst of Chaos
It isn’t easy to live in the midst of chaos. It isn’t easy to keep your balance when the onslaught comes and when the wind swirls around your head and whispers messages of fear and uncertainty in your ear.
We’re designed to anticipate and respond emotionally, decisively, and quickly when panic strikes. However, the ideal thing in the midst of all these scenarios is calm.
From a psychological and sociological point of view, we already know that the word of the year for 2020 will undoubtedly be “fear”. The current events are already showing every facet of this term, in behavior and attitudes ranging from the irrational to the more integrative. The latter are those who accept the fear but choose to face it by carrying out proactive actions to try to solve the problem.
Psychiatrist Karl Augustus Menninger pointed out that fears can be trained, which leads to progress in life. It’s easy to say this but putting it into practice is possibly the most complex and traumatic thing a human being can do.
Chaos comes knocking at your door and takes away your calm. Your mind goes crazy, and, even worse, you infect others with your behavior. By doing this, the fear just grows and grows and becomes uncontrollable.
In these situations, you need to sow seeds of calm and let them germinate. You can train yourself to do all of this, because, after all, fear itself, as well as anxiety and irrational behavior, are just other viruses that we can learn to contain.
In the midst of chaos, we must apply a mental approach based on calm
We’ve reached a point where we’re all getting (metaphorically) sick of all the bad news. You can see it on your television, radio, and social networks. The disturbing information, the worrying facts, and negative messages are winning over the positive ones.
Moreover, on average, negative news is always shared before any hopeful news. You often take it all in, without even applying the filter of prudence, and without sometimes assessing whether those facts are true or not.
Well, it’s true that we have a right to know. Information is power, and we have to be in touch with everything that’s going on. However, the time comes when circumstances and information start to overwhelm you, and a feeling of powerlessness awakens in you. Not knowing what might happen tomorrow is undoubtedly what frightens and limits us the most.
We are creatures who are used to being able to control things in our immediate surroundings (or at least that’s what we think). However, when you suddenly realize that you’re in the midst of chaos, and that what you took for granted yesterday is today either uncertain or no longer there, this hurts and disturbs you.
What can you do under these circumstances?
Calm is an attitude, and it comes when you accept that you can’t control everything
In a context of uncertainty, anxiety increases. In addition to this, there’s another factor: our environment. The information we receive, the people around us passing on their emotions, and their fears… all of this increases anguish as much as the feeling of uncertainty itself.
For example, it’s much worse not knowing if you’re going to lose your job than actually knowing that you’ve lost it. The brain will act in a different way. Thus, you need to learn to tolerate uncertainty.
You must realize that, even though you don’t have control over certain things, you do have control over how you choose to react to them. That’s the key.
Acting calmly is the best attitude. It’s the mental approach by which you can respond in the most sensible, reasonable, and balanced way by giving your best.
Clear your mind: eliminate catastrophic thoughts
In the midst of chaos, catastrophic thoughts don’t help – they make you sink. In the midst of difficulties, doubts, or problems, your mind should be your ally and not an adversary that hinders you at every step.
Therefore, it’s vital that you learn to clear your mind. Every thought that hinders you and that creates fear instead of helping you to find a solution adds one more problem to the situation as a whole.
Be aware of them and eliminate your negative internal dialogue. Calm must be like a beacon that can guide you in the dark.
In the midst of chaos… who do you choose to be?
Something that can help you in difficult times and in the midst of chaos is to ask yourself the question: who do you want to be? Do you want to be the hero or the victim? Do you want to be the one who helped or the one who made the situation even worse? And do you want to be someone to be proud of or someone who chose to be immobile and panicky?
You choose and decide the trail you’re going to leave behind you. You choose what will come out of these days in which we’re all obliged to give our best.
In crisis scenarios, calmness is that companion that’s capable of guiding you along more serene and successful paths. With it in hand, you’ll see things more clearly and know how to react and to be proactive and responsible.
It’s time to activate your sense of calm, in a time full of changes and uncertainties. Let’s act together with serenity, intelligence, and serenity.