Three Things to do In Times of Trouble
It goes without saying, if you have a role to play in getting people out of trouble, just go do it. The minutes will be stretched to hours and you will not be able to move fast enough…and you will not be needing this note.
That is not most people much of the time. For most there are still three things they can do.
- Fight. Channel aggression into something useful, or at least physical. My daughter was disturbed not only by the news from Paris this November 13 of 2015 but also from Lebanon, and by the relative attention to the first vs. the second. She ferociously cleaned for a time. I was proud of her. It is a start.
This strategy is in line with the British tradition of keeping a stiff upper lip and moving on with life. While it may not seem like it, in times of trouble, this is a form of giving fight, of not being subdued.
Prayer and meditation can be a category 1 activity.
2. Flight. Lose yourself in unrelated activity, at least until you think of something useful or physical to do. Warning: it has to be a really engaging or it will not work. For me, a challenging mountain bike ride does the trick. I understand for many others a comedy channel comes in handy.
3. Connect. Connection is a two-way thing, not a one-way thing. Little benefit comes from watching or listening. Possibly you will collectively think of something in category 1 or 2 to do. That is a start.
Prayer can be a category 3 activity.
Tips include
- Do something until you are exhausted. Something is better than nothing.
2. If exhausted, be ok with sleeping a lot. Sleep is in category 2. It can be a deeply engaging way of losing yourself for a time. Babies have sleeping down to an art form, expecially when adults are stressed. We are all babies somewhere inside.
3. Turn the media off. Most media is a one-way thing, and provides a high degree of interruption. It feels like connecting but it does not decrease stress. It feels like distraction but keeps letting us wander back to the trouble.
