Coping in Chaos - 5 strategies to regain control of your life amidst turmoil and uncertainty - ep 121

EP 121 – Coping in Chaos – 5 strategies to regain control of your life amidst turmoil and uncertainty  

When facing chaos and uncertainty, it's natural to feel overwhelmed and out of control. Today we’re looking at "Coping in Chaos" five easy and effective tools for managing stress and regaining control of your life amidst turmoil.  Whether your stress is brought about by rising prices or rising water levels, here are five ways you can start feeling like you’re back in control again.  

You’re listening to PCWN – the vet podcast celebrating all creatures great and small and the fantabulous professionals who look after them all – PCWN is powered by VetStaff – New Zealand’s #1 specialist recruitment agency that helps veterinary professionals find jobs in clinics where they’re excited about going to work on Monday mornings – vetstaff.co.nz

Welcome to episode 120 – I’m your show host Julie South.

I like to think that the state of my mental health is generally pretty good.   I know how to recognise when I get too close to the edge … when I get to close to that endless downward negativity spiral where the vortex just sucks me in and it’s hard to move away into a more positive space.

But this week just gone, I noticed I was starting to edge towards “that” edge … and if I’m getting close, then I know I’m probably not the only one.

A bit like if you’ve got a question to ask, you can bet your last dollar others will have the same question.

Therefore, because I noticed I started to feel a bit wobbly, then others probably are as well.   Maybe it’s you.   Maybe it’s someone on your team or at home.

Today I want to talk about Coping in Chaos and the importance of boring ole routines are as a coping strategy at times of very high stress.

And let’s face it – stress levels are probably off the scale for many kiwis right now.

But before I do that, I’d like to invite you to connect with VetStaff on your favourite social media channel – FB, Insta or LI.  Kajal – who manages VetStaff’s social media - wanted us to get more “social and behind the scenes”.   So on most days I have an informal post about something I’m smiling about … grateful for … musing over.  It’s all light-hearted and, hopefully, will spark something inside of you, for you to smile about on the inside in your life as well.  So please feel free to follow and comment – thanks!

Now, back to Coping in Chaos - as veterinary professionals, you’re often on the front lines during times of crisis.

Think back to Covid – doesn’t that seem so long ago… like we’ve mostly left those times behind…?

That’s an example of “time healing all things”

But back then when we were in the thick of covid, lots of things felt overwhelming.   

Remember:  we were having carpark drop offs, euths in the back seats of cars, and split teams.  

I’m sure you remember those times.

And right now, here in NZ, we’re in the thick of a couple of weather crises … we’ve been thrown into the deep end again, when you might feel like you haven’t gotten over the Covid crisis fully or properly yet.

Today I want to talk about a few different ways to help you cope and maintain some sense of sanity and how to feel you have a handle on control in what may feel, right now, like out of control times.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re worried about fallout of rising inflation or rising water levels this is for you.

These are things that have helped me over the years through some pretty dark and hard times … in some cases, thank God!, they’re systems and procedures I haven’t had to implement for a while, but now I’m dusting them off to use again because, like I said, I’ve noticed this year my thoughts haven’t been particularly healthy…

I’m dusting off these tools in my mental wellbeing toobox, because I know they work.

And, paradoxically, the most exciting thing about this is that they’re as boring as all get out.

I think their effectiveness lies in their simplicity.   So simple in fact, you wonder just how effective they can be.

And they are.   Effective.

These are some of the tools I use, and have used, to help me cope when I’m feeling out of control…. To help bring me back from the unstable edge.

The thing to focus on is taking care of ourselves.

I know!   It sounds trite.   But it’s essential we take care of ourselves.  

This is especially critical if you’re a principal caregiver in your family:  as a parent to your kids or looking after a dependant relative, your spouse, or perhaps elderly parents.

As we’re reminded every time we catch a flight or board a ship – put on your own life jacket first before attending to others.   Put on your own oxygen mask first before your children’s.   

As veterinary professionals you also have the added responsibility of your patients’ care – so it’s triply critical you look after yourself first.

Let’s start with boring ole routines.

What exactly is a routine? 

A routine is a set of actions done consistently and habitually on a daily basis. 

It can include things like waking up at the same time each day, exercising, eating healthy meals, and setting aside time for self-care. 

During times of crisis, our routines can be disrupted – which indirectly, leads to stress and anxiety. 

However, having a routine can actually help reduce stress and promote psychological well-being.   

One of the reasons for this is that decision making requires energy.   By reducing the mental load we put ourselves under by having routines – tasks we do on autopilot, without thinking – frees up our mental bandwidth for making the big decisions necessary during high stress times.   

During crisis times, it can be easy to get overloaded by the chaos and lose sight of our normal routines. However, taking small steps to maintain a sense of normalcy can help us feel more grounded and in control. 

Here are some tips for incorporating routine – and reducing your mental decision-making load - into your daily life to help you cope during times of very high stress – like a natural disaster.   

It’s really important to remember to maintain your focus on what you can control and let go of what you cannot.  

#1 - Create a daily schedule: 

Take five or ten minutes first thing – perhaps while you’re having your first cup of coffee or tea - to think about and plan out your day.   Prioritise what needs to be done.   Identify three or so critical – must-do things for each day.   Ditch the never ending list you might be used to in “normal” times.   Just go for three or so.  Maybe three for work and three personal / family tasks.  

When you have some kind of schedule – a list – even if you’re not a list person – you’ll feel like you have a modicum of control.   Because you have selected those action items on that list.  You have put them there.  By putting them there you’ve gained a degree of control.  However small.  

#2 - Stick to your normal sleep schedule: 

Even if / when your work schedule has been disrupted, try to stick to your usual sleep routine.

This is especially important for those you’re caring for.   We all need routines to varying degrees but kids and sick or elderly people need them more.

Sticking to your normal sleep routine can help regulate your body's natural sleep-wake cycle – your 24 hour circadian rhythm - and help improve overall well-being.

A large scale sleep study investigation back in 2009 – encompassing 90,000 participants - objectively measured circadian rhythmicity with various mental health, well-being, personality and cognitive outcomes.  

This study added credence to the idea that maintaining a consistent pattern of sleep and wake cycles may be an important component of good mental health.    

And during times of high stress and crisis, we need to look after our mental health even more.   So maintain – or start! – going to bed and waking up to a routine.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/15/health/circadian-rhythm-mood-disorder-study/index.html

#3 – take breaks – gosh! How many times have I mentioned this idea on this podcast?   How many times has it been covered at NZVA conferences and symposiums?   Take. breaks!

Start the routine – every habit and/or routine has to start somewhere – so, if you don’t take breaks, make today the first day in your routine of taking breaks.   

They’re important!   If possible get outside into the fresh air.   If you feel guilty for taking a break when everyone around you is working – which is my problem – then start with just five minutes.  Go for a walk – maybe down to the corner and back … around your carpark… make yourself a cup of something and find a sunny spot to sit in for a few minutes while you focus on drinking whatever it is you’ve made yourself.

That was #3 – get into the routine of taking regular breaks.   

#4 - Practice self-care: 

I know – that got an eye roll from you, right?   We hear it all the time “practice self care” – what does that even mean?   What does it look like?   

After all, who’s got time to do yoga or meditation, right?

When you’re up to your neck in alligators and everything is falling apart around you, who’s got time to take  a break ??

But self-care is bigger and more than yoga or meditation and I’d like to share a few ways you can incorporate a smidgen of self care into your daily routine without feeling guilty or wussy!

WHAT DOES SELF-CARE EVEN LOOK LIKE?

One of the most important ways you can look after yourself – that is, take care of yourself - is to control what information you let into your head… into your brain.   

What do I mean by this?  I mean turn the talkback radio off.   Turn the TV off.   Turn off the ding-ding alerts of your social media channels.    

Sure, you need to stay informed but you don’t need to over-expose yourself to the clickbait headlines and drama being dished up on social media and some news channels.  

Yes – it’s essential you stay informed about what’s happening locally and nationally.   If you’re in the thick of the crisis then make sure you know where to go and what to do to stay safe.  

But watching all the bad-news, catastrophe after catastrophe and sensationalism that’s so-called ‘news’ today, will do your head in and suck you into a space that’s not healthy.  All it does is increase your stress levels and cause even more anxiety. 

Sure, keep abreast with what’s going on via social media but take breaks from it because, as we all know, not everything you read on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin is true and correct … which can result in your head being done in.

So one aspect of self care is controlling what, where and when you let information into your head.

#2 - Another thing you can do to look after yourself is through mindfulness and meditation:  These practices can help you stay calm and focused during a crisis. A study conducted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being in individuals dealing with disaster-related stress (NIH, 2020).

If you’ve done an MBSR course and let the skills you learn there get rusty and dusty, now’s the time to brush off the cobwebs and revisit some of those strategies.

Mindfulness doesn’t have to be all woo-woo.

Instead, it’s a way to bring you back to the present, the here-and-now and gives you the way to take a few steps back from the edge.

If / when you start to feel out of control – whatever that looks like for you – here’re three things you can focus on:

Stop whatever you’re doing – or not doing – if you’ve gone into freeze or fright mode - and take three slow breaths in and out then…

LOOK – notice three different things you can see around you – if that’s too much – pick a shape – look for three things that look circular, or square or…………. or a colour – look for three things that look like green or blue or red or …………. Whatever – it doesn’t really matter about the WHAT so much as that you ARE … just look around you – what do you see – notice three different things.

When you’ve noticed three things you can see, then check in for three things you can FEEL … maybe it’s your feet on the ground, your hands or arms, the rise and fall of your lungs as you breath in and out… get out of the noise in your head and become aware of the sensations in your physical body…. Identify three different physical feelings.

Then what can you SMELL … what odours are you aware of?   House smells, clinic smells, traffic smells, animal smells.   Identify three smells.

When you’ve done that notice how you feel … take a couple more breaths – in for four, hold for two, out for four … rinse and repeat a few “see feel smell” cycles until you feel more in control than you were before you started.

You can also incorporate mindfulness when you’re moving from one “thing” to the next … from one consult to the next … create mental “transitions” … imagery or an awareness to let everything to do with one patient or person or event or………… whatever behind you as you move to the next! 

You want to move into the next – whatever it is – fresh so you can focus 100% on that at the time …

You can achieve this by pausing as you open a door – when you put your hand on the door handle FEEL the door handle – notice it fully – when you turn it or push it what does it FEEL like … what SOUNDS go with that - does it squeak or catch … when you open the door, does it require a lot of energy to open or is it easy?  What new smells and sounds do you notice…?

Incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine takes but seconds each time … and it allows your mind to stop all the chitter chatter on-the-edge stuff and bring you back to the here and now.

This is another example of what self-care can look like – easy stuff that you don’t need to tangle yourself up in a lotus pose or downward dog to do!

#3 - Maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine: During times of crisis, it can be challenging to maintain a healthy diet and an exercise routine. 

When you’re not in the thick of life or death situations, I’ve found that taking the time to stop and prepare lunch and dinner is an important part of mindfulness and being able to control what I can control, for me.

One of the things that make me smile on the inside – which I discovered during the covid lockdowns – was listening to podcasts while I prepped dinner.

The types of shows I listen to are educational and informational.   They’re all evidence based.   

And talking of podcasts and food, tune into Dr Megan Alderson’s Vet Thrive Collective Podcast – particularly the episode “Nutrition and Mental Wellness with Helen Duyvestyn” – I think it’s episode 11 – which was released on Thursday 16 February 2023.   It’s definitely worth a listen.   You can listen to The Vet Thrive Collective Podcast on either Apple or Spotify. 

https://www.vetthrive.org/

Exercise – this is one of my daily routines – which I started back during one of the Covid Lockdowns.  I started off with a walk around the block one Sunday morning in the middle of winter.   Then I went out Monday and Tuesday mornings.   I told myself I’d just walk around the block – it’s just 1km –the rebel in me was starting to feel a bit out of control … like I’d lost personal agency over my own life …

I wanted to feel like I had some modicum of control so I told myself I could find the time to walk just one kilometre each day without it doing my head in.   That’s all I had to do.   Nothing more and preferably nothing less.

As at recording this episode, I’m knocking on the door of walking every single day for the last 18 months – that’s about 550 days – not that I’m counting.

When I got covid last year I still walked – it was just a lot slower than I had been.   Fortunately, I got through that relatively mildly and I was determined it wasn’t going to interrupt my routine of walking.

I was a bit worried that the recent storms would mean I couldn’t walk but fortunately Hamilton got through the cyclone relatively undamaged.

I realised at about the four-month mark into my walking routine, that I’d formed a habit with my morning walks…. That I was lacing up my shoes without thinking too much about what I was doing.    That was a great feeling.

Because I started walking in the middle of winter, I ensured I made it easier on myself to succeed by getting my gear ready the night before … that meant I didn’t wake Alan up because I got dressed in the spare room.  

Forming routines and habits is boring stuff … it’s doing the same thing over and over and over … but it seriously makes a difference to your mental wellness.

Believe me, just 1km a day makes a difference … obviously more is better when it comes to cardiovascular health, but do what you can with what you’ve got when you can.  

There’s no shame with “just” (airquotes) 1km a day.

Another thing you can do to look after yourself is to seek support from friends and family: Disasters and crises can be overwhelming.

It’s absolutely okay to ask for help. 

Seeking support from friends and family can provide emotional and practical assistance during challenging times. 

And if they’re true friends, they’ll want to help but they maybe don’t know how because you haven’t told or asked them.  

Think about it from the other side – if the roles were reversed, you’d want to be able to provide the support to your friends and family who were going through something catastrophic, wouldn’t you?   

It’ll be the same for them.   

Sometimes it mightn’t be anything tangible or practical – sometimes self-care just might mean picking up the phone knowing there’s a caring shoulder for you to cry on at the other end.

So remember to reach out and connect – especially when you need help or support.

Another thing you can do to look after yourself is to prioritise your own pets’ and animals’ safety and wellbeing.    

It’s about putting on your own oxygen mask and lifejacket first.   That extends to your own animals’ equivalent of the oxygen mask and life jackets.   When you know your animals are safe and well then you can be the doctor or nurse that you are for other four legged heart beats in your care.   

Make sure you’ve got a pet emergency kit, including food, water, medication, and identification information – just like you’d tell your clients, practise what you preach for yourself.

Now, changing tack a bit – mindfulness – I mentioned that before, but what does mindfulness look like and how woo-woo is it?

I know that mindfulness might not be the first thing that comes to mind for some of us, especially for those who might feel uncomfortable with the idea of meditation or mindfulness practices. 

But, like I said earlier, mindfulness isn’t just for yogis, spiritual gurus and New Agers.

It’s for everyone.  There are some really easy and effective ways to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routines that are suitable for even the staunchest of people.

Here are five easy and effective ways you can include mindfulness into your every day life:

#1 – preferably first thing – but any time is better than no time - start your day with a couple of focussed deep breaths.  

Before you pick up your phone to check social media or emails or the news, start instead by taking a few deep breaths.  Inhale for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 6.  

And if you want to get more bang for the few seconds this takes, focus on the air coming into your lungs on the inhale and going out on each exhale.  

This simple exercise can help you feel more relaxed and focused for the day ahead.

Practice mindful walking: 

Instead of rushing through your day charging from here to there and everywhere, take some time to focus on your breath and the sensation of your feet touching the ground. 

It doesn’t have to be for your entire trip or walk.   It could be from one letterbox to the next.  Or every time you turned a corner.  Or as you were approaching a road you needed to cross.   Or when you got to the other side of the road. 

It might be while you’re in the corridor between consult rooms.   Or heading to the break room.  Or the bathroom.

You could include it for 10 right footsteps – focus on your right foot hitting the ground.   Then your left.  Maybe even focus on the swing through of your leg.

Doing this can help you feel more present and reduce stress.   And mindful about what you’re doing and where you’re going.

Another aspect of self care includes taking breaks throughout the day:  Gosh!  How many times do you hear this mantra as a veterinary professional?

Taking regular breaks throughout your day to recharge helps reduce stress.  Maybe while the kettle’s boiling, focus on your breathing.   Or the sound of the water in the kettle.   

During your breaks, take a few minutes to focus on your breathing as a way to help clear your mind.

Incorporate mindfulness into your daily tasks: Whether you're cleaning cages or performing surgeries, or waiting for the kettle to boil, try to stay present in the moment and focus on the task at hand. 

Be fully present in what you’re doing rather than making up mental shopping lists and to-do lists.  

Focus on what you’re holding in your hand – if you’re cleaning out it could be towels, brush, broom, water, cloth.   Be aware of how your arm moves backwards and forwards or side to side.  Focus on your breathing – if you’re working hard, has your respiration rate picked up?  Can you hear yourself breathing when you don’t at rest…?

Again, focussing this way can help you feel more relaxed and help reduce stress.

End your day with gratitude: Before going to bed, take a few moments to reflect on the things you're grateful for. 

If you’re not sure how to do this, reflect back on your day, starting with when you got up.  Remember events that happened.  The people you were with.  

For me, when I have days where it feels like everything went wrong …one of those “I wish I’d stayed in bed” days, sometimes all I find myself being grateful for is perhaps getting the washing in off the line before everything got rained on.   Or maybe I realise that, for once, I had a run of green lights.  

It’s okay to be grateful for the little things.  But going to sleep focusing on the positive is a way to help shift your focus from everything that didn’t go to plan and the stress that goes with that kind of day, to the positive things in your life.

Incorporating a routine into your daily life during times of chaos can help promote psychological well-being and reduce stress. Remember to create a schedule, stick to your normal sleep routine, take breaks, and practice self-care. By taking care of yourself, you can continue to provide quality care for your patients during times of crisis.

I hope you found this interesting and helpful.  

Remember, if you’d like some unconscious bias training for your team so you can make better hiring decisions – please get in touch because this is something we can help you with.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hit that follow button (it’s free) and give it a 5-star review wherever you’re listening to it right now.  Why? Because it makes a huge difference to helping the search algorithms serve it up for others to listen to.  Thanks heaps!

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you, you can be, kia kaha, ka kite ano, god bless.

References:

Doherty, R., Madigan, S., Wrenn, K., & Tangney, B. (2014). The association between sleep disturbances, psychosocial stressors, and inflammation in cardiovascular disease. Biological research for nursing, 16(2), 175-183.

American Psychological Association. (2021). Social Support Helps People Cope With Natural Disasters. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2021/09/social-support-natural-disasters

American Red Cross. (2022). Coping during a disaster. Retrieved from https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/flood/coping-during-a-flood.html

American Veterinary Medical Association. (2022). Disaster Preparedness. Retrieved from https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/disaster-preparedness

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/index.html

National Institutes of Health. (2020). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Disaster-Related Stress. Retrieved from https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04214332