You know the feeling when things just aren’t going your way. The other day I put in a new transmission in my car that is just a couple years old. It was out of the shop for 3 weeks and then while we were driving at night less than 2 weeks later we hit the carcass of an animal and the car was back in the shop. I’m sure you have had those times when things seem to gang up and the water level makes you sound like a motorboat when you breathe out. I’m sure you can relate especially this year when as a society we have gone from Covid 19 to lockdown the kids being home all day, then your work hours might have changed you might even be working from home, then we moved onto demonstrations and riots in many major cities, After that did you get a breath before the hurricanes started. That is just what happened as a society. I’m betting there was something in between that just happened to you. A friend once told me to treat everyone as if they are in the middle of a crisis and you’ll be right at least 50% of the time.
Everyone in the country has had many challenges this past year. I’m betting you might be able to relate to many. But is relating, or being patient with them is that your go to action? I’m betting not. I know it is not mine. I still have lists of things that I must do before the day is over. I have been working on some things for years and I have not yet overcome them. Things very seldom change overnight. Those that we call “overnight successes” have put in years of effort and patience. Then after the years of work things can sometimes build quickly and from the outside it might look like it was overnight. So right now what our country needs, I guess what the world needs, is more patience and grace shared with each other. Because now more than ever we have people that are going through tough times.
When we are stressed we can also be suffering from information overload. In this state we can miss parts of the communication and some of the nuances. We tend to not fully hear info because of the inability to juggle the facts of the crisis, or not remember as much as we could when not stressed. We can also misinterpret some messages. To make sure that our information is passed on during stressful times we should use simple messages.
Another way we deal with communication when we are stressed is we like to hold on to current beliefs. Changing our beliefs can sometimes seem counterintuitive, especially during a crisis. We want to hold onto our beliefs when we are stressed and surrounded by unknowns. We want to stick to existing beliefs because these give us comfort. When talking with people in crisis make sure to use messages from a credible source.
Next when we are stressed we like to look for additional info and opinions. We tend to use our experiences to base our beliefs. So to change our beliefs we may need to check with friends, family members, or look to news sources to back up the information that we are getting. It is important to use consistent messages when dealing with someone that is in a crisis.
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