Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, the US appears to be in chaos. I’m not even going to try to list everything, because that list would be out of date even before I publish this post.
Let’s agree on this: Life is full of change. Sometimes, it’s change we want. Sometimes, it’s not. Even if we do want this change, we might need to choose how to manage our lives, including our emotions, as we work through this change. Let me first review the Satir Change Model, so you understand where I’m coming from.
About the Satir Change Model
In the Satir Change Model, we start off in Old Status Quo (OSQ). That’s where even if we are not comfortable, we know what to expect.
Along comes a Foreign Element (FE). That Foreign Element changes things and we cannot “just” continue.
Foreign Elements can be as easy as a road detour, where we follow the signs to then continue our journey. We might not like the detour, but we can get to where we want to go.
Right now, I don’t feel as if the FEs will allow me to get to where I want to go. That’s scary.
That’s why we experience Chaos as a result of the FE. In the case of a driving detour, Chaos probably doesn’t last that long. However, our society is in the midst of upheaval—and that’s what scares me.
The Chaos I experience now feels more like this: Up until now, I lived my life (played by) one set of rules. Now, those rules appear to be gone. And I have no insight as to what the new rules are. (Mostly because things change so fast.)
However, at some point, we will all experience a Transforming Idea (TI). We will see at least one way (if not more) forward.
That TI allows us to practice and integrate these new ideas into our lives. Then, we have a New Status Quo.
How do we manage in a time of chaos?
Ideas for Managing in Chaos
Start with yourself.
Just as the airlines say to put on your mask before helping others, assess what you need. What do you need to do to stay healthy and available to support other people?
Consider how you can create more resilience in your physical and online health. Maintain your exercise program because that will help your emotional state, not just your physical state. And if you are not yet using a password manager, now is an excellent time to invest in one so you can continue to manage your passwords so no one can hack your online presence.
Add Local Actions.
Everyone has different levels of energy and availability to support others. We can always start in our neighborhoods, and then the larger city or town, then the state. Make sure you can be as physically safe as possible in your home and create safe spaces for your neighbors and other locals.
Get to Know Your Representatives
Finally, make sure you know your congresspeople and senators. Visit—yes, in person—their local offices, if you can. In-person visits create human connection. First, you get to know the nice people in your congresspeople and senators’ local offices. Even better, the people in the local offices get on the phone to your congresspeople and senators. They explain, “We normally have 2 or 3 people a day come to visit. We keep getting 20, 30, 40 people today. These people want you to do something.”
That is a totally different response than using social media to influence your various representatives. With social media, no one knows if you are a bot or are real. However, the more you can show your face (as a real human) to your congress-people and senators’ local offices, the more likely your elected representatives will believe your concerns.
If you have the energy, work at the state and country level, too. Do what you can, when you can.
Chaos Requires One Step At a Time
We can’t all do “everything” all the time. But we can do one small step, get a little feedback, and then choose our next steps. Can we do this with others? Sometimes.
But we can do something every day for ourselves. That’s the first step.
We can choose more resilience and adaptability. It won’t be easy. But it is necessary.
And that’s how we can manage with everything is in chaos.
Johanna – thank you for your calm and rational voice. This is a scary time with a lot rogue players using ‘ chaos’ as their mantra.
I try to be rational too and be ‘adaptable’ – this usually is about forming a few contingency plans.
Have you wrtiten on contigency planning?
Thank you again
Bastien
Bastien, thanks. (I deleted the extra comment, if you are wondering.)
I have not yet used the words “Contingency planning.” I write a lot about risk management and creating more choices, often with the Rule of Three. (I do not have a tag for the Rule of Three. Bad Johanna!!)
But I think this is a great idea. I will consider how to approach contingency planning. So far, I use it as:
Thanks for adding to my fieldstones!