Coping with confinement and COVID-19 induced stress.
What is the link between a chimp and a helicopter?… apart from the fact that every instructor you ever had told you that any monkey can be taught to fly one!
In his best-selling book The Chimp Paradox, Professor Steve Peters (click for further information) describes a seven step blueprint for dealing with stress. Step four, he calls The Helicopter and getting perspective.
Perspective is possibly the most important factor in coming to terms with any stressful situation. It is certainly one we should be putting to work right now to confront the uncertainty, doubt, and undoubted stressors caused by COVID and confinement.
He puts it like this:
Imagine you have climbed into a helicopter that has taken off and is now hovering about the situation.
You can now look down and get some perspective on what is happening. Imagine your whole life as a timeline from start to finish and see where you are at this particular point in time. Ask yourself, “How important is this situation to the rest of my life?” “What are the really important things in my life, and is this one of them, or has it changed them?” Remind yourself that everything in life will pass. You will soon look back on this moment as a distant memory. Very little in life is important in the long run.
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