Stress-busters: For the light at the end of the tunnel

• Author: DR. BATYA L. LUDMAN
• Date: 07 January 2021
• Published date: 07 January 2021

They extolled the virtues of scanning the files and saving them electronically, while I strongly endorsed paper, pen and my filing cabinets. The next morning, I went to my beloved one-year-old computer to continue working on this column and my computer was deader than dead, and boiling hot. I did what any trained first responder would do. But even after unplugging it and placing it on the tile floor of the washroom to cool it down, it was still another two hours before it would even respond at all to my touch.

After replacing the hard drive, four days later the backup program has still only restored 15% of my files. And who knows if I will ever see many of them again? Ah... a big shout-out for the old-fashioned way. I managed to stay remarkably calm, though as of this writing I still have no idea what my back-up program will do, but I have now added other backups and a stronger anti-virus program because in this day and age one can't be too careful.

This all, of course, took place while spending valuable hours trying to call the kupat cholim and book my coronavirus vaccine on a short Friday while trying to prepare for Shabbat. Being a big fan of the "you can only be in control of what you can be in control of" theory on maintaining sanity, I thought I'd share some of my stress-busters in the event that, like most of us, you too might be able to benefit. Here we go.

1. Before doing anything, ever, breathe. Breathing properly, which takes about six minutes to learn and two minutes to do, helps you regulate your nervous system, and this is critical. When stressed, we move into flight/fight/freeze mode and our primitive brain takes over. That is important if a tiger is chasing us, but otherwise we need to use the logical part of our brain, and bringing that back online (no pun intended) requires calming our nervous system in order to strategize.

2. Set priorities. Use your time wisely. It is a gift not to be wasted. Don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed. When too much is happening at the same time, decide what are the three most important things to be done, put the rest on hold and focus on what truly needs your attention. Don't ruminate or worry about the things that you can't change but rather let those things go.

3. Acknowledge the challenges. Appreciate them as opportunities and not real disasters. Be positive and take action so that you can help determine the outcome.

4. Divide and conquer. Reach out and enlist the support of others. Who can be a...