Responsibility means we’re able to deal with a situation and effectively handle it.
Effectively handling a situation means we weigh options and make good decisions.
Making good decisions means we’re clear headed and calm by managing our thoughts and emotions.
Managing our thoughts and emotions mean we learn to not freak out and get totally overwhelmed by all the stuff coming our way today…and every day.
People calling out sick, late orders, compliance, complaints, the money’s low and someone is calling the union or a lawyer….aaaarrrggggghhhh!!
Emotionally and mentally things can get out of control pretty fast so here is something I have used (still do) to keep it a bit under control.
In the heat of things, I don’t fight with my thoughts and emotions trying to change them. It doesn’t work. They fight back and now I’m really in a twist.
I take a moment, pause, and take some good deep breaths, as many as I need.
Then I relax away from focusing on that panicked thought narrative in my mind and gently move my mental focus back a bit to gain some perspective and space.
In other words, I calm down.
It’s okay with me that overwhelm hangs around riding in a sidecar while I drive for greater clarity and accuracy of the circumstance itself and what is needed in response.
I remind myself that one focused step in response to the circumstance is all that is needed. Don’t overthink it; any focused step will help – tiny or whatever.
Then I start feeling some traction. I’m moving and not staying absorbed in overwhelm.
The trick is to focus on the incident itself, not my reaction and the heated opinions and feelings of the moment.
So, when I say, managing thoughts and emotions, this is a big part of what I mean.
Turning our attention toward the incidences themselves and learning to relax away from the accompanying potent thoughts and emotions that lead us astray.
Hope this helps a bit because you know, and I know, there’s some bit of gnarly that will inevitably be part of some of our days.