How to Keep Your Head and Be Calm in Crisis

Everyone has their own natural response to stress, when its tough to be calm. Some of us have anxiety which causes us to be easily overwhelmed, while others seem to become more focused. While scientists have found that your response to stress is partly innate, much of it is learned. Meaning that anyone can learn to how be calm in a crisis instead of anxious.

Regardless of how well you currently handle stress, you can become less anxious and more effective with practice and awareness.

Use these key ideas to become the calmest, coolest, and most collected person you know:

Identify the problem. What exactly is wrong? It might be obvious, but sometimes its not. Before you get yourself all worked up, identify the challenge. You might find there really isnt an issue. Sometimes, were good at being dramatic when no drama is necessary.

Determine if theres anything you can do. Now that you know the challenge youre facing, seek a solution. Ask yourself if theres anything you can do. Understand that your thoughts dont have the power to change anything other than your own behavior.

What do you want? What is the new circumstance you want to experience? Its one thing to know you have an issue, its another to know the outcome you desire. You cant create a solution if youre not clear on what youre trying to accomplish.

Avoid worry. Rather than focusing on the doom and gloom that may or may not happen, give your attention to solutions. What can you do to create the outcome you desire? While your mind is generating solutions, it cant be worried. You can save yourself a lot of negative emotion by keeping your attention on finding a way out.

Stay present. Avoid projecting into the future and imagining all the horrible outcomes that may never come to pass. This is how we create worry and anxiety. If you find your mind wandering to negative places, bring yourself back to the present. Look, hear, smell, and feel your immediate surroundings. Describe them to yourself.

What else works to Get Calm in Crisis?

Breathe. Relaxed, easy breathing leads to a relaxed, easy attitude. The solution to many negative emotions lies in the breath.

Relax your body. Stress releases chemicals that cause your muscles to tense. You can counteract this phenomenon by relaxing. Relax your shoulders and the other muscles of your body. Try to be loose like a noodle. Learn what a relaxed body and mind feel like. It will be easier to recognize when youre experiencing stress.

Stay busy. An idle mind is much more challenging to control than one that is focused on a task. Keep working on your solution. If theres nothing more you can do, avoid just sitting around and worrying. Find an activity to keep your mind occupied.

Be grateful. Studies have shown that feeling gratitude lowers cortisol levels by over 20%. Before you work yourself into a frenzy, list the things that make you feel grateful. Notice how much better you feel.

Relabel your emotions. Youre not worried and stressed, youre cautious and stimulated. It sounds like a trivial difference, but it makes a big difference in being calm in crisis.

Even if youre the most anxious person you know, you can learn to be calm in crisis and keep your head. Your reaction to stressful situations is mostly learned. You can learn to think and behave in a new way.

Its been said that life is just one crisis after another. It might not be quite that bad, but life is full of challenges. Imagine being able to deal with those challenges more comfortably and effectively.

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