Win The Day
Tech Sgt Sarah Mattison via Wikimedia Commons
Courage must be the firmer, heart the bolder, spirit the greater the more our strength wains.
Written over a thousand years ago and recorded in a fragment of Anglo-Saxon poetry the words are those of an Anglo-Saxon warrior fighting an invading Viking force. Words that echo out of the centuries and remind us that bad things show up.
Like all of us I’m struggling to cope and makes sense of where we are and where we are heading. I don’t have any answers, few of the assumptions that can be made are easily tested or verified.
Coping with this for me comes down to 3-things; 1 – A simple mantra, win the day. 2 – A plan that defines what that means each day. 3 – The discipline to execute, see it through and repeat.
When you have a situation that is highly uncertain and you have very little or no control you have the conditions for anxiety and fear to flourish. Winning the day is about getting a focus on what you control.
Uncertainty + Lack of control = Anxiety
In our family, like everyone with school age kids this week we are experiencing the joys of trying to adjust to a virtual curriculum but we’re also building a daily plan and a dashboard to track how everyone is feeling. 1-10, if you drop below a 5 we do something to help bring that person back up. Change the mood, add sugar, sing, dance get outside, move, be grateful, savour life.
For anyone coping with pressure the degree to which you can take on, cope with and thrive with a challenge is dependent on the degree to which you are supported. Support means many things, it’s physical, intellectual and emotional but the single most important factor is your social connectedness to friends and family. A big part of the support equation is how you support yourself but when thinking about social support the key is to think of how to help and support others. Technology makes this easier than ever and it’s not about grand gestures just send a text or make a call. Connect and remember that social support is active not passive. Who do you know whose day you could make 1° brighter? #wintheday
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