Last week, I was driving along on a nice sunny day behind a few cars, when suddenly there was a load of feathers in the air. This normally means a bird has just been killed and I was expecting to see the victim in the road, but, to my surprise, I glanced down to the left of the car in front and there was the bird frantically flapping it’s wings to avoid another strike.
Within seconds, the bird managed to avoid getting hit again and flew off into the trees – phew!
What a great example of the fight / flight response that all animals have as an inherent survival mechanism. It certainly saved this bird!I
As humans we also have this survival mechanism which it vital when a real threat happens and we need to react. The fortunate thing, for us, is that a threat is not often a life threatening event, the way it used to be. The unfortunate thing is, it’s become more complicated to understand what a threat is, because our responses will react the same to a real threat or even a perceived threat. A car heading towards you is an obvious threat, whereas going through change in an organisation is a ‘not so obvious’ threat but will impact people in the same way – probably in a more subtle way.
Because we are intelligent human beings, we can normally deal with these threats but sometimes it becomes too much. In our changing, challenging world things can get tough to manage and the cracks can start to appear. This is why we need to look after ourselves, be aware of the pressure building and have strategies to deal with things.
If you are feeling the pressure here are some tips to deal with things:
- Take time to do a 2 minute breathing exercise where you sit in a quiet place, close your eyes and slowly control your breathing. Take some big breaths followed by big exhalations to clear the air at the bottom of your lungs.
- Take 30 minutes each day to exercise (could be 3 x 10 mins) – a brisk walk, to elevate the heart rate, will send more oxygen to the brain which helps you think. It’s a great way to have an informal meeting
- Make sure you stay hydrated 2+ litres of water a day and even more on hot days. If you are dehydrated it is harder to concentrate and make important decisions. The heart is working harder to push the blood through your body and everything takes more effort
Pressure in life is good and we certainly need it to perform at high levels, but we also need to understand when it is becoming ‘de-stress’ and is holding us back from being the best we can be.
We don’t need to feel like we are fighting to avoid the next big thing to hit us…..Breath, exercise and drink water!