When a real disaster strikes you, try to confront this crisis with a positive mind. Easier said than done, having a positive disposition is very helpful when you’re faced with a big challenge. It is possible to develop positive mental habits that will help you overcome your fears and respond to crises of all sizes productively.
Take these four vital steps when a real disaster strikes you:
1) Accept the actual situation you are in
Check out, what is really scaring you? It is probably the worst-case scenario that you keep running through your mind. An optimist will tell you not to worry about that. The optimist will remind you, quite correctly, there’s a good chance something less than the worst-case will appear. But such advice is useless to the person who’s already got the worst-case scenario in his head. And this “movie” will play all over again and again. The solution is to let the movie play itself out. Imagine the worst in detail and then find some way of accepting reality.
The simple act of picturing to be okay with some imagined disaster is soothing. And if you do it over and over again, that soothing feeling will seep into your psyche, exorcise your fear, and make you stronger and more productive.
2) Invent a third act
A very powerful tool is to create a mental movie scene. Therefore imagine the third act to your mental movie. The second act was accepting and being ok with the disaster but it’s hardly the end of the movie. To give the movie a happy ending, you need a third act. And the third act is about finding the silver lining. Every disaster has a silver lining. But, this is a process that gets better every time you repeat it.
3) Develop a Plan B.
Dealing with the worst-case scenario will make you calmer and more able to assess the likelihood of the various possible outcomes. Make plans for each. Disaster planning should deal with at least three eventualities: worst case, bad case, and good case. Imagine each one. Assess its likelihood. Figure out what you can and can’t do about it. Always look for the silver lining.
4) Take action.
Accepting the disaster, finding the silver lining and developing an action plan will make you feel so much better. The best thing is, you can do all this in a matter of hours. As in all other areas of life, the action is critical when you are faced with disaster. The moment you start moving your response plan forward, you’ll be making progress and lowering the chances of things ending up really badly. You’ll feel better about yourself the moment you start, and you’ll continue to feel better as long as you’re taking positive action.
Sven Franssen