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From Chaos to Calm
How to Become a Better Decision Maker in Times of Crisis
With everything going on over the past few years, especially the past few months, have you noticed how critical it is to think clearly during a crisis? How valuable it can be to find calm and analyze a situation with clarity, relying on facts to make better decisions?
I’ve recently listened to an episode of ABtalks with Mohammad Gawdat, titled "Calmness in Crisis." The title alone was extremely captivating, as this is something I am sure many of us desire to have more of in our lives. There is this assumption that being able to remain calm in a time of crisis is an ability you either have or you don’t. However, according to Gawdat, a former Chief Business Officer of Google, bestselling author, and researcher on artificial intelligence and happiness, maintaining calmness in times of crisis is a skill that can be trained.
After further research on the topic, I'd like to share key information I found valuable to help us better understand what happens to the human body during a crisis, and how one can gain greater clarity and make better decisions in challenging times.
How Does the Body Respond in a Crisis
A moment of crisis, when we perceive that danger is near, triggers a survival response. It activates our sympathetic nervous system by flooding the body with stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol triggers feelings of worry, fear, anxiety, or panic to alert us that danger is near, while adrenaline gets our body ready to either fight or flight so that we have a chance to escape the danger and survive. It’s important to know that when our stress response is activated, the prefrontal cortex gets clouded and slows down. This is the area of the brain responsible for logical thinking, weighing options, analyzing situations, and decision-making. Instead, the brain goes into a survival mentality and therefore falls back on habitual actions and behaviors. This means that if we have developed positive routines and daily habits in our lifestyle, such as exercise, healthy eating, and journaling, these get amplified during a crisis. We rely more on these habits to help us navigate the challenging times we face. The opposite is also true. If we have developed negative routines and daily habits, such as binge-watching or overeating, these will be amplified during a crisis and become the habits we rely on to navigate the difficult times.
It’s key that we understand the human nervous system is meant to keep us alert and aware of danger, giving us the best chance at survival. So, our brain is constantly scanning our surroundings for signs of a threat. This means our brain will highlight the negatives more than the positives, so we don’t miss a nearby potentially dangerous situation.
At the start of humanity, life was so different from what it is today. Danger was constant, real, and near. Whether it was disease, starvation, large predators, lack of shelter, and so on, a quick, swift response in a moment of danger was necessary to keep humans alive.
Today, things are different. We still face dangers, but more often, we are exposed to information that makes us stressed even when there is no real threat. Reading the news, scrolling through social media, or receiving a bad email or message often triggers our stress response, even though they are not truly dangerous to us. This means we feel stress when we don’t need to.
According to scientific research, the chemical surge of the stress response lasts in our bodies for a short time, seconds to a few minutes; after that, the body should calm down. However, our own thoughts often get in the way and keep us stressed. The stories we tell ourselves can make us mix up real danger with fake danger, keeping us in long-lasting stress. This continues to cloud our thinking and stops us from making logical, informed decisions.
Notice how many of our daily decisions are motivated by stress and fear rather than calm, clarity, and real facts.
Techniques to Help Calm the Nervous System
Here are 3 techniques that can help the body switch from a stress response back into a rest state.
Slow down your breathing
Breathe in for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 2, then breathe out for a count of 6. Try this for a few minutes until you notice your body starting to calm down.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique
Look around and name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. By bringing your attention back to your 5 senses, you are sending a strong message to your brain that you are safe right now.
Cold Water
Splash your face with very cold water 2 to 3 times, making sure to cover the forehead and eye area. This is like pressing the brakes on the stress response, as cold water on your face helps calm the nervous system. It triggers a biological survival mechanism that helps lower the heart rate, steady breathing, redistribute blood flow, and decrease stress hormones.
Let’s Talk About Feelings
According to Gawdat, feelings we commonly experience in crisis include fear, panic, worry, and anxiety. I found his definition for each one and the distinction between them very interesting. It was a new perspective on these feelings and their underlying needs. So, let’s further look at each one of these feelings.
Fear is the certainty that a threat exists in the future. To handle fear, it is recommended that we allow ourselves to slow down and breathe to calm our nervous system, and then, once we feel we can think clearly, we put a plan in place to actively manage or minimize the future threat.
Worry is when we suspect a future threat but are not sure. So, worry is an uncertainty problem, in which we continually fluctuate between feeling safe and unsafe. Therefore, to stop it, it’s suggested that we verify whether the threat is real by examining the facts. If the threat is real, we will deal with it; if it is not, we let it go.
Panic is when we believe that the threat is definite and very near. It is a time problem, meaning it is triggered because we believe we don’t have time left to act against the threat. To address panic, it is recommended that we adjust our time by allowing ourselves to pause, take a moment to slow our breathing, think logically, and reassess, or try to execute our steps faster.
Anxiety is believing that there is a threat and feeling that we are incapable of handling it. We often mistake it with fear; this leads us to hyperfocus on the worst-case scenarios, which ultimately makes us feel more incapable. Therefore, to address anxiety, we should shift our focus away from external threats and toward increasing our knowledge, skills, and resources, so we are better prepared, equipped, and more confident in our ability to handle the threat.
In Conclusion
Being calm during a crisis means we can handle the stress, understand our feelings, and let our bodies relax without stressing ourselves out further through excessive thinking. Since stress is supposed to last only a short time in our bodies, we can use breathing to help it pass. Once calm, we can check what feeling we are having, name it, and see what we need. With clear thinking, we can choose the right steps to solve the situation.
It’s important to remember that no change happens instantly; it comes with being intent on making the change, building self-awareness through curiosity and reflection on our own behaviors, and doing daily, consistent practice with the tools and techniques that drive the desired change.
I encourage you to take a moment now and commit to trying one technique today. Start with your breathing, or explore your habits, and actively apply what you’ve learned. Notice any impact or change, share it with others, and encourage them to do the same. Let’s together build more calm and clarity in our personal and professional environments.
Sincerely,
Rasha Afifi-Talleh
Executive Coach
CPCC, ORSC
