24th May 2021

That probably seems a bit of a strange thing for me to say, but please bear with me and hopefully things will make sense to you when I have finished!
We are all human and things do not always go the way we have planned them to. This may be because of a genuine mistake that we or someone else has made, that could or should have been foreseen, or it may be because of a genuine accident, that nobody could have foreseen.
But it is no good at these times for someone (even yourself) to tell you not to panic – that is a completely unnatural reaction or instinct for most people. So, unless you are very experienced and have been through the same or a similar situation before; or are that character in a movie or TV show you saw once, that is always very cool in a crisis, you will panic. (N.B. please note that this is not usually real life and just comes from somebody’s imagination as a scriptwriter).
But, although we usually panic when something goes wrong, it is about how we then deal with that panic that is important. As I say, there is no good saying don’t panic, as we respond with ‘fight’, ‘flight’ or ‘freeze’. Human nature usually dictates that when we panic, we try to do something quickly to try and stop things before they get any worse. But that often actually makes things harder to come back from than they were before (remember the phrase: ‘Be careful what you wish for’).
In my view, the best way of handing a crisis is just to accept that you are going to panic and therefore be realistic and give yourself the time to panic. As a result, this additional time (it doesn’t have to be for very long) will then give you the space to calm yourself, to look at things as objectively as possible and then to work out the best thing for you to do to resolve the situation as best you can. In fact, that extra time may even be enough time for the crisis to resolve itself naturally.
Also, remember to narrow your vision, so that you only focus and concentrate on the thing or things that you need to do and, if you determine that things are going to take more time to sort out, explain what is happening to other people so that they know what you are going through and how long it may take. You may be surprised at how understanding people may be. It’s always better also if you can share your crisis with somebody else since, as many people often say, a problem shared is a problem halved.
To sum it up, when something bad or unforeseen happens to you, give yourself time to panic and to focus on the problem, then work out what you need to do, then do it!




