How to keep calm and carry on in stressful times
No-one makes it through life without encountering personal challenges and times of stress. But at the moment it feels fair to say there are a multitude of stresses and challenges that face us all on an existential level that’s unlike almost any period in our lifetimes.
The amount that’s happening that is out of our control and yet has the potential - if not the experienced reality - to affect our daily lives, can feel overwhelming and unmanageable. Combine that with minute-by-minute bombardment of the news cycle and social media that makes it possible for us to have access to information in a way, and at a speed, that was never previously possible, and whilst that has the benefit of enabling us to be better (if not always entirely accurately) informed, it also means it’s harder not to feel consumed and subsumed by it.
In the face of all that, keeping calm and carrying on feels more important and yet harder to achieve than ever right now, doesn’t it? But it is possible.
In the interests of trying to maintain my own sense of equilibrium and positivity, I’ve tried various strategies, some of which I’ve found reassuringly effective, others less so. In the hope that any of them might be of use to you, these are the ones I have found the most helpful.
Introduce rationing
Whilst I certainly don’t want to be completely out of touch with what’s going on, the above mentioned always-on nature of news and information means that it’s all too easy to be sucked in to checking on updates, or getting notifications from whatever your preferred news source is, constantly throughout the day.
Only looking at/listening to the news first thing in the morning and once again around mid-afternoon has definitely been the most effective way I’ve found of keeping my head above water when it comes to emotional and informational overwhelm.
I was watching the news in the evening but found that meant I was going to bed feeling anxious which in turn affected my sleep (how surprising. Not) so I ditched that. You might find you prefer a later-in-the-day update. There’s certainly no one size fits all, but the principle is one that I heartily recommend trying.
Out you go
Outside, that is. Even if it’s only for a five minute walk around the block, being outdoors is a great antidote to overwhelm. Better still if you can access some kind of calming nature. Admittedly it’s not quite as enjoyable if the weather is foul, but no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes, is a mantra that’s annoyingly appropriate.
On your marks. Get set. Bake
OK, so maybe you’re not Great British Bake Off standard baker - or indeed cook - but making a beeline to the kitchen and rustling up a dish, whether it’s a simple salad or something more complicated, is pretty much guaranteed to calm any racing thoughts by making you focus and concentrate on an alternative task.
This applies to anything that obliges you to focus on something that you enjoy. So if you’re not a cook, but you love to craft, or read, or play bridge, do that. Ditto if you’re one of those strange people who enjoy housework. Or the even stranger ones, like…ahem….me, who finds ironing calming.
Talking about strange, this next one certainly sounds odd, but it’s unexpectedly effective and I think I know why.
Become a litter picker
I admit I originally bought a litter picking stick as something fun for my little gang of grands. But increasingly I’ve taken to taking it out on my walks (along with a black bin bag) because it turns out that picking up litter is almost comically satisfying.
For what it’s worth, here’s my theory as to why it’s also a way of combatting existential stress: When so much of what’s going on is entirely out of your control and none of it is good for our world, it’s surprisingly reassuring to be able to bring a small amount of order to the small amount of the planet that is in our immediate orbit. Thank you for reading my philosophical thesis.
This next one’s probably best done at home, though if you want to try it when you’re out and about who am I to stop you?
Everybody dance now
No real need to expand on this any more other than to say putting on some music and singing and dancing along to it is always pretty much guaranteed to make me feel better about the world.
And…breathe
This last one is so cliche I hesitate to suggest it. But then cliches have an irritating way of being valid and certainly I’ve found this to be the simplest and most immediately effective strategy when I feel overcome with overwhelm. Just closing my eyes and breathing deeply as many times as it takes to calm my racing thoughts - usually about six rounds - clears my head and enables me to carry on feeling calmer and more in control.
Do you have a keep-calm-and-carry-on strategy that works for you?
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