Pushing through, powering on, taking control are not the answers. Yet, those are often our go-to solutions when things are difficult.
As you can see in the image below, our stress and fear response leads to a negative cycle. Life was complicated before, but WOW, the last three years have stretched and tested us in ways not before seen in our lifetime.
When you are in stress and fear mode, the part of your brain that makes good decisions, that can figure things out, that is creative, that can be rational and calculated all gets overridden by the stress response part of the brain.
Preserve your decision-making ability
To preserve your decision-making ability, you need to keep your prefrontal cortex fully operating. When stress and fear take over, then the amygdala takes the brain processing away from the prefrontal cortex. This is when you act out, make rash decisions, and operate in fight-or-flight mode. You can feel trapped, imagine only scarcity, or feel annoyed by everyone around you. Recognize these reactions and take steps to gain back your decision-making abilities.
How do you manage stress? If you don’t have great techniques, find some TIPS here to get you started.
When you find yourself stress-eating, getting quickly angry or frustrated, not sleeping well, weight going up, or having poor coping skills, it’s time for some stress reduction. You are not going to make your best decisions when the amygdala is driving.
