Where do you find yourself?
With so much going on in the world, it's not uncommon to remain fixed in a state of fear. However, challenging times also offer us opportunities for personal growth – discovering who we are and how we want to show up for ourselves and others.
When we're afraid or coming from a place of fear, we engage in more catastrophe-type thinking, which is neither helpful nor energizing.
When we are feeling fearful, we often try to control everything in our lives. If we are not mindful of our thoughts, everything we do becomes a chance to regain control. Controlling everything is exhausting, which makes it challenging to be in relationships. When you are able to notice this, try identifying something small and manageable that is within your control.
These are the times when we need to remind ourselves that there is another way to think and be about this issue. We all have times when we need some extra support.
Most of the time, we just need a friendly reminder or nudge from a colleague.
Leslie Bennett, MHI Partner, shares:
"My favourite reminder comes from my friend and business partner. He's not going to let me go too far down the rabbit hole before saying, "Let me reframe that for you." This always helps to interrupt my thought process and begin moving me out of the fear zone and into the learning zone."
Internal reframing is a tool we can use when we're in the zone of learning. Self-talk and reminders to trust ourselves are the most common forms of this; trusting in ourselves, others, the course of events and information, the next step, etc. When we take the time to reframe our fears, they diminish. It's not always easy, but it gets easier the more we do it.
We use this model in our WeCARE Mental Health workshops. It enables us to reflect and take stock of where we are now and what choices we can make that move us into a healthier way of being.
By being mindful of this, we can better understand where we are on the continuum from fear to learning to growth and then take the steps necessary to move to where we choose to be. It also helps us to better understand the people around us and support them more effectively, as we can meet them where they are at.
We want you to know that you are not alone and that at any given time, each of us will find ourselves shifting from a state of fear to one of learning to one of growth.
We hope this diagram will serve as a helpful reminder and tool for re-establishing balance.