Unfreezing Your Mind
Hit Reset on Anxiety with Creative Resilient Solutions
Have you ever experienced this? You're typing but nothing's happening on the screen.
Without a second thought, your hand clutches the mouse and starts clicking—normal clicks at first, then harder, and HARDER.
You give a final back-and-forth shake of the mouse in protest, clap it on your desk two or three times and then return to the keyboard to send an unintelligible mash of letters, but the screen remains unresponsive.
Frozen. Locked up.
It's most common when your computer reaches a logical limitation:
It's running code it can't understand.
Or it exceeds its number-crunching capacity.
One such time happened to me not too long ago, and it got me thinking:
Do our minds ever lock up and freeze?
How would we experience that?
I'm glad you're here because in this read we discover:
Why a computer freezing up is analogous to how we experience anxiety.
The default way our minds try to deal with anxiety.
Why the default is self-limiting and leads to poor decision-making.
The best strategies for reprogramming your mind's default anxiety-response code.
BONUS: Topics to explore further to reinforce your mind's resilience to anxiety.
Dealing with Anxiety
So, what does it feel like when our minds don't know how to proceed?
That is essentially what is happening when a computer freezes. I…can-not…com-puuuuute. Lights out.
And then it hits me: when humans can't compute—when there's an inability to grasp a situation—we freeze.
We can snap out of it many times. We just move on. And sometimes computers do this too! They go from being unresponsive to responsive, somehow. But who cares how, we're back up!
But something happens when the threat grabs hold to more of our attention than it should:
Anxiety.
Stress hormones surge, opening up blood flow to regions of our brain that turn on threat-reducing programming. Creative functioning—a divergent, high resource thought-activity—is dialed down in favor of narrowing focus around the threat.
With urgency, the mind forecasts potential futures, aiming to choose the safest options and avoid costly mistakes. Even if these potential futures are not the most probable, this state of mind prioritizes snap judgements to reduce risk.
The problem is, while it seems to us that forecasting problems is helpful, it ends up being nothing more than a rehearsal—a visualization—of whatever bad situation we can imagine. The worse it is the more attention-grabbing. This is true, even though the worst we can imagine is almost always less probable than we perceive it to be.
Finding a solution to most threats today requires an accurate prediction of the most-probable, not the most-threatening outcome. They require creative thinking, not snap judgements.
When anxiety becomes chronic it leads to nothing less than a “waking nightmare.” Life becomes a never-ending stream of threat potentials that seem more important than they really are:
Excessive worry about being judged in every conversation
Constant fear of losing your job or not performing well enough
Seeing every small symptom as a sign of a serious illness
Stressing over every dollar spent, fearing financial ruin
Overthinking the safety of family and friends whenever they're away
Today's Stressors Require a Different Way of Thinking
So, what are we supposed to do, when our biology wants to go one way, but we know that leads to visualizing catastrophes?
We have to stick our foot in the door before the forecasting happens, and turn on a helpful way of thinking:
Rather than worrying excessively about being judged, we focus on expressing genuine interest in others to build meaningful connections.
Rather than fearing job loss or underperformance, we proactively seek feedback and opportunities for growth to enhance our skills and value.
Rather than seeing every small symptom as a sign of a serious illness, we adopt a balanced approach to health with regular check-ups and preventive care.
Rather than stressing over every dollar spent, we create a flexible budget that prioritizes savings and mindful spending for financial growth and security.
Rather than overthinking the safety of family and friends, we encourage safety communication and trust in their self-care, offering support when needed.
While it is actually much less common today to experience threats that require snap judgements, many of us are stuck in the “waking nightmare” of a continuous state anxiousness.
Maybe you're one of those people that has a hard time getting your foot in the door before things unravel. You go through your day living in perpetual terrifying forecasts. Problems that make us feel this kind terrible are better solved with a mind that isn't in survival mode. We need a mental reboot.
As a side note, in today's world the threats that actually do pose a risk to our way of life are not going to be solved by knee-jerk reactions, but rather some of the best creativity we can muster. Simply not the kind of thinking that's going to happen while anxious.
Consider how these modern-day challenges would benefit from creative thinking over anxious thinking:
Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability
Education System Reform
Healthcare Accessibility and Efficiency
Urban Planning and Housing
Social Polarization and Conflict Resolution
Is your heart pounding a bit more than usual? Stay with me, Jimmy!
Next, we learn how to reprogram our mind to provide on life-saving snap judgements when we need them, while imagining life-saving solutions to today's new kind of threats.
If You Survive the Initial Shock, It's Time to Think Creatively
Now for some good news.
It might seem grim, but it is also reassuring: Surviving the initial shock of a threat means you can shift from panic thinking to creative thinking.
Let me explain: That initial knee-jerk reaction is about saving your life without you having to think about it. But if you survive the shock—you have your knee-jerk reaction—and the problem persists, it's time to think another way.
Rather than slipping into forecasting it's better to widen your perspective and get creative.
The key difference between immediate threats and longer-term challenges is time-horizon. Having a larger time-horizon allows us to move from quick, survival-based reactions to thoughtful, creative problem-solving.
Time-horizon awareness helps us understand an important short-cut to sound thinking:
If we get past the first scare, we ought to start thinking creatively instead of reacting on impulse.
The sooner we can shift, the better. This leads us to clear best practices to deal with anxiety:
Remind yourself of the longer time horizon that you have. It may be best to consider the most-probable future, not the most threatening. Adopting this perspective increases the likelihood of finding effective solutions.
Catch yourself when you're thinking tends toward catastrophizing. You're stuck in “waking nightmare” mode, not creative problem-solving mode.
Use the longer time horizon you have to collect helpful data, advice, and self-reflection. Ask yourself why the threat seem so, well, threatening. What memories come up? What fear are you wanting to avoid? Then, what are some contingency plans you can put in place to hedge your fears, while remaining open to other high-probability possibilities that will work out fine.
Oh, but our mind's can be quite the wily fox sometimes, can't they?
The longer time-horizon isn't necessarily a comforting thought. We still have to deal with the problem and find the solution. The desire to find that missing solution can create its own form of anxiety!
Additionally, experiencing repeated failed attempts in our past erodes self-confidence. On a broader scale, our perception of threats intensifies due to diminished self-trust in our ability to overcome them.
Therefore, self-soothing is a powerful skill and antidote to this kind of anxiety. More than calming down in the moment, it's a strategic tool that breaks the cycle of panic-driven decisions, paving the way for a habit of creative thinking.
Self-soothing techniques, like spending time visualizing positive outcomes rather than forecasting high-threat, low-probability outcomes, prime your brain for inspirational thinking.
Making the Switch, IRL
Follow these simple steps the next time feel a flush of forecasting anxiety:
Breathe Deeply: Begin by focusing on your breath. Inhale slowly through your nose, allowing your chest and lower belly to rise, and then exhale gently. This helps to activate your body’s relaxation response, reducing the immediate sensation of anxiety and allowing you to approach the situation with a clearer mind.
Acknowledging the Tendency to Forecast Threats: Recognize when you're predicting negative outcomes based on fear rather than facts. Consciously acknowledging this tendency can help you step back and assess the situation more objectively.
Challenging Negative Thinking: Once you've acknowledged your predictive anxiety, actively challenge these thoughts. Ask yourself, "What evidence do I have that supports or contradicts this outcome?" This can help break the cycle of negative thought patterns.
Widening Perspective: Try to view the situation from different angles or consider other possible outcomes, not just the worst-case scenarios. This might involve considering past experiences where you've successfully navigated similar challenges or imagining how someone you admire would handle the situation. It could also be thinking back to a bad experience in the past that this current threat is causing you to rehearse.
Recruiting Skills You Might Be Discounting: Reflect on your strengths and past successes. You likely have skills and resources that you're overlooking in the moment of panic. Reminding yourself of these can boost your confidence and provide a clearer path forward.
Creating a Balanced View of the Future: Rather than fixating on potential threats, try to envision a future where you navigate the challenge successfully. This doesn’t mean ignoring risks but balancing them with a realistic assessment of your abilities and potential positive outcomes.
Cultivating Curiosity: Approach the situation with curiosity rather than fear. Ask yourself, "What can I learn from this?" or "How can this challenge help me grow?" This shifts your mindset from one of avoidance to one of engagement and problem-solving.
When you notice the sense of calm that comes with these activities, take a mental snap-shot of how it feels. Remember, you can always come back to this feeling when you feel the anxious pressure building again.
I think back to my ritual when my computer froze: clutching the mouse, clicking, shaking, and clapping it on my desk before a furious finger tap-dance back on the keyboard…
It’s just like the anxious chatter that results with forecasting. If I can gather my wits and hit reset, everything is going to be just fine.
Probably… wink wink.
CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Interested in Exploring Further?
If you're keen to dive deeper into understanding and mitigating the impact of anxiety in your life, consider exploring these enlightening topics. Each offers valuable insights and practical strategies for reducing anxiety:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This psychological approach focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors. CBT provides a structured method for self-improvement and is widely recognized for its effectiveness in treating anxiety.
Changing Habits: Shifting from anxiety-inducing thought patterns to engaging in healthy, fulfilling activities can significantly reduce anxiety levels. Developing new habits encourages a focus on positive actions and outcomes, contributing to overall mental well-being.
Limiting Irrelevant Information: In an era of information overload, consciously choosing what we consume is crucial. Reducing the intake of non-essential information can prevent mental clutter and decrease anxiety, leading to clearer thinking and increased focus.