Chaos and how to cope

The entire world is in the clutches of a global pandemic to some degree.

Some parts of the world are a lot better off than others.

Here, in Australia, we are so very fortunate to have had quite short lockdowns and are getting back to some normality.

Having said that, what is ‘normal’ now?

We are still living in somewhat uncertain times and not knowing can cause us to become very anxious and stressed.

You may:

·        feel worried and unsure about the future

·        feel anxious as to if you are still going to have a job and/or if that job/business is going to give you enough hours in order to pay the bills and provide the basic necessities to yourself and your family

·        feel on edge worrying about family members that may be at risk during this pandemic 

·        feel annoyed and stressed at constant border closes and not being able to see loved ones

·        feel stressed about the thought of having to return to the office after working from home for such a long time

·        be fighting to keep that anxiety at bay and managed.

The thing is that you can actually live with uncertainty.  When you learn to be more flexible and comfortable with uncertainty you can then feel more relaxed, calmer and happier.

Uncertainty can cause more stress than foreseeable pain

According to researchers at a London University College, they found that just even knowing that there could be a small chance of receiving an electric shock can lead to significantly higher levels of stress.

This study was published in Natural Communications in 2016.  During experiments researchers found that volunteers who had a 50% chance of receiving a shock were the most stressed while 0% and 100% chances were the least stressed! Those who specifically tracked uncertainty closely were better at guessing whether or not they would receive a shock.  This suggested that stress may inform judgements of risk.

The experiment that was completed involved 45 volunteers. They played a computer game in which they turned over rocks and guessed which of them might have snakes under them. When there was a snake under the rocks they would receive an electric shock to the hand. 

The experiment drew conclusions about the effect of uncertainty on stress and there is more to this study however for the purposes of this blog I think you get the general gist. 

Archy de Berker, a Senior Data Scientist from the UCL Institute of Neurology said:

"Our experiment allows us to draw conclusions about the effect of uncertainty on stress. It turns out that it's much worse not knowing you are going to get a shock than knowing you definitely will or won’t.”

In a nutshell, More Uncertainty = More Stress.

Putting it into real life terms – it’s like when you apply for a job, you probably feel more relaxed if think you’re a remote possibility than if you think that you’re a shoo-in! Meaning the remote possibility = certainty and the shoo-in = uncertainty.

It’s the not knowing that causes the anxiety, like waiting for results to come back from medical tests or even waiting on information about flight/train delays.

Stress nowadays has often been seen as a negative response however it isn’t always the case.  During this study they found that people whose stress responses peaked the most at periods of great uncertainty were better at judging whether or not certain rocks had actual snakes under them!  They found that appropriate stress responses might be useful for learning about uncertain, dangerous things in the environment. 

Modern life as we know it can be precarious and there are so many unknowns like, when is the taxi or bus going to arrive which inevitably causes stress to many people.  Now that we’re living in a technological age this type of uncertainty has been addressed by implementing real-time information boards that provide you with immediate access to time-tables, arrivals/departures updates… meaning less stress because the ‘uncertainty’ has been taken out of the equation!  Interesting isn’t it!

 What is going to happen...?

A lot of ‘what ifs’!!

Uncertainty spikes our Primal Survival Instinct (Fight/Flight responses)

As you are aware, the more uncertainty you feel the more stressed/anxious you will become.

Human beings generally hate uncertainty.  We do however love uncertainty when it suits us. For example, when we do things spontaneously that we like, the spice of life etc.

However, when events come in left field that we don’t like then we have a totally different response.  When this happens we often spin out, worry, stress, panic.  Our physiology changes to that of responding to a ‘real threat’. We can start having heart palpitations, perspire, mind races, sometimes feel nauseous, body starts heating up, breathing becomes laboured to name just a few symptoms that you may or may not experience some or all of these.

This is your flight/fight response.  It’s our imagination going wild!

It’s rare that we are exposed to a real threat where our lives are genuinely in danger.

I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen in the modern world because it does which I’ll address shortly.

What’s a real threat?

In primitive times if a sabre-toothed tiger were to approach us, we would instantly go into our primal flight/fight response. We’d either put up a fight or take flight and run as fast your legs could carry you to escape. That’s a real threat.

There is another primitive response and that is ‘freeze’ – ever heard the term ‘scared to death’ when they said they couldn’t move a muscle.  That’s a primitive response as well – animals can often freeze and defecate so then they didn’t smell so appealing or appetising to the predator and they would mosey off somewhere else.

Real modern-day threats can come in the way of domestic violence situations, robberies, muggings, held at knife point, military engagements etc…. and the constant threat of danger to our life can lead to trauma/PTSD, but that’s another blog for another time!

What’s a perceived threat?

It’s when we mis-use our imagination, thinking that everything or something is going to go wrong or something bad is going to happen. We conjure up all these negative scenarios and the worry comes on, the ‘what if’s, ‘should I’ and then that leads to anxiety. What’s happening is that you’re living in the ‘future’, not the present!

Our brain has trouble distinguishing between a real threat and a perceived threat. Sometimes we can find it difficult to process something be it real or perceived and our primitive brain hijacks the body and we immediately go into fight/flight survival mode regardless.

Due to the difficulty in processing and the lack of answers, it can lead to:

·        Anger

·        Aggression

·        Frustration

·        Depression

·        Sadness etc

What can we do to get a handle on Uncertainty?

Firstly, the more flexible we are with our thinking about the uncertainty, the more relaxed, calm and happier we will feel!

When we are worrying, stressed, anxious, it’s like we’re in a boat in the middle of a storm and we are out of control. 

And this reminds me of a little story.

Once a wise old monk sat by a pond of clear water. He looked into the pond to see a clear reflection of himself.  He could see himself so vividly, clearly, everything was calm.  He then skimmed a stone across the top of the surface of the pond. It became ripped and he saw that his own reflection changed – it was distorted. After a time, the water became calm again and his reflection became smooth and looked like his true self again.

And so, he came to the conclusion that when a person has a calm mind, they can see reality as it is however the rippled, anxious mind distorts their perception making it difficult to see clearly.  Only when it is calm again that the mind can reflect reality accurately!

In another words:

When you are in the rippled pond – you have no control because you are ‘associated’ in ‘it’.

When you have removed yourself from the pond, looking at it from a distance – you are in control because you are ‘dissociated’ from it.

What can I do?

There are a number of things we can do to lessen the effects of uncertainty.

Below is just one of the many techniques teach to help people take charge of their thoughts and feelings:

1.        Like the story above, take a step back from the situation, look at the situation from another perspective, from a distance!

Become dissociated!

Breathe deeply and very slowly for two to three minutes or until you feel calmer:

7:11 technique

·        Breathe in through your nose for seven seconds; and

·        Breathe out through your mouth for eleven seconds!

If you cannot do this, use the breathing ratio of 4:8

Once you have calmed your mind you can then respond in a calm, appropriate manner. You can often find answers and more often than not you can learn just to be comfortable with the uncertainty of not knowing!!

The more you practice this strategy the better you will feel and get back in control, living in the present!

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