Navigating Uncertainty With Simplicity
This year has been full of upheaval, a time of uncertainty, frustration, conflict, confusion, and fear. During times like these, how do you navigate the impact on your ability to show up well in your world? How do you move forward in life when it feels like so much of what was normal has moved backwards?
I don’t know about you, but I really dislike it when someone tries to give me a pat answer to fix a big problem (e.g., “just don’t worry about it.”). So don’t worry (pun intended!), I’m not going to present a trite answer. The more complex answer is that there isn’t any one simple answer and there’s a whole slew of simple strategies that, combined together consistently, can make a difference in moving from stuck to unstuck.
Move Your Body
From a nervous system perspective, when we are in a crisis, our sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear. From our sympathetic nervous system, we will engage in either fight or flight. In fight mode, that can show up as staying super busy, not taking breaks, “powering through”, not being able to sit down and be still. In flight mode, that can show up as becoming very lethargic, unmotivated, irritable, and difficulty engaging in activities.
What I suggest is that whether you show up in fight or flight mode, that you intentionally move your body in a way that counters your nervous system activity. Are you frenetic, pacing, running everywhere? Then slow your body movement down in a way that forces you to only focus on that activity. Yoga is a great example of this. Just try to think about something else when you’re moving through a vinyasa flow!
Do you find yourself lethargic and unmotivated? Does the thought of doing anything sound super appealing? Then move your body in a way that increases energy flow. An example of this would be taking a walk through your neighborhood, noticing the smell in the air, the sounds, and the colors around you. Does a walk sound like too much for you? Let’s make it even simpler then. Try sitting in your chair, feet on the ground, and begin moving your hips gently in a figure eight motion, back and forth. Notice the feel of your body as it shifts and rotates. Even though it is simple, it is still movement, and movement is energy.
Fuel Your Body
Are you over-feeding, under-feeding your body? What are you feeding yourself? Is it balanced or is does sugar or salty foods rule your diet? Nutrition has a huge impact on mood. If you find yourself lopsided in your food habits, is there one small change you can make? Even if you’re still out of balance, one better decision is more than none at all.
Water
Did you know that more than half of your body is made up of water? Not drinking enough water can lead to a variety of symptoms, including headaches, muscle cramps, fatigue, increased craving for sugar and/or sweets, on to even more serious issues of blood pressure changes, seizures, etc.
Did you know that your brain is made up of seventy five percent water? Staying hydrated not only removes the above symptoms, but it also increases mental clarity, focus, and creativity.
Want to know how much water you need to drink? The National Academies of Sciences determined that the average adequate daily intake is 15.5 cups for men and 11.5 cups for women
Sleep
We’ve all experience days where we did not get enough sleep the night before. Most of us also have memories of being more irritable, short-tempered, and unmotivated the following day. Even the tiniest inconvenience can morph into something so much bigger when we’re sleep deprived. All that to say that inadequate sleep has a significant impact on mood.
Sometimes it’s hard to get to sleep, and sometimes it’s hard to stay asleep. Some of you may be rolling your eyes right now, but it is really important to have a night time ritual. It is a prompt to your brain that the time has come to transition to sleep and a consistent night time routine increases the connection in your brain to sleep. Some things to consider for a night time ritual: using a blue light filter on your cell phone at night (even better yet is putting all electronics away), having a warm cup of tea or hot milk with vanilla, a bath, meditation, stretching, etc. One of my favorites is to complete my brain dump list for the next day. It’s out of my head and onto the paper.
Notice Your Body
How often do you slow down to actually check in with how your body feels? Making a habit of checking in with your self can be a powerful preventative tool. If you do not stop to notice, you do not notice the early warning signs your body is giving you. That means you miss many opportunities to release and renew your own experience of self. What would noticing look like?
Meditation. My favorite app is My Life Meditation. It has a simple but fabulous check-in, that has you select up to five different emotions and then populates a list of meditations specifically geared around how you feel.
Deep breathing. Try this exercise: tell yourself that you are going to send your breath to your toes. Take a deep breath, notice where the breath goes. Did you feel the sensation in your foot? Our brain listens to what we tell it, even something like where to notice our breath. Feeling the cramping of nervousness in your gut? Send your breath there. A deep breath in, exhaling the nervous energy out.
Mindful awareness. Notice how your body feels sitting on the chair. Notice the texture of food in your mouth, the feel of water on your hands as you wash them, the smell of your coffee. Use your senses, tune in to what you hear, feel, see, smell.
Two minute room scan. This is one of my favorite exercises for staying present in my world. It is also fabulous to use when you’re starting to feel a bit anxious, upset, nervous, etc. Here are the steps:
Begin to breathe and notice the rise and fall of your stomach
Find an object in your room that catches your attention. It doesn’t matter what it is, just look at what catches your eye.
Ask yourself questions about that object: What’s the shape, the colors, the texture, what captured my attention?
When you don’t have any more questions about the object, slowly move your head and find another object in the room that catches your attention. Ask the same questions from step c.
Repeat as many times as you like
You can use this exercise anytime, anywhere, and no one will know you are actively working to calm your body and bring yourself back online.
Movement. Nutrition. Water. Sleep. Awareness. They are basic, simple in design. Their impact is powerful. They create the framework for a healthy you. I am a fan of simple strategies that are consistently used. It’s in the slow shuffle that we create the foundation needed to grow and thrive.