SELF-CARE
While Re-Orienting
COLUMNIST
Breana Cross-Caldwell, BS, CI and CT Portland, Oregon Breana Cross-Caldwell holds her CI/CT from RID, B.S. in Interpretation from Western Oregon University and is a Certified Life Coach. She has led thousands of interpreters in preventing burnout and finding the passion again in their lives through developing habits of self-care. You can find her on Instagram @brighterfocus.
Change can be hard. When things are shifting around us, uncertainty, anxiety, anger, and resentment are common. Our nervous systems love boring - and times of change are anything but. Over the past year and a half we’ve lived through and continue to navigate many unexpected, life-altering events, circumstances, and tragedies. Each thing we face has the potential to activate the nervous system. Navigating the re-orientation of RID is no exception. When activated, the nervous system employs a survival response. This response allows us to run from a lion or fight off an attacker without needing to think. This response is
You have access to the best compass around - your values. an essential tool for our survival. What our survival response does not handle well is how to respond to an angry email, or what to do when an invoice goes unpaid for another month. Executive function, creative problem-solving, perspective-taking and professional communication are all handled in the higher-thinking part of the brain - which goes offline when the survival response takes over (Siegel, 2012). There are many names for these two control-centers, but let’s refer to them as the wizard brain - higher-level thinking center, and the lizard brain - survival-response center. Safety is the primary responsibility of the lizard brain. In order to access the wizard brain during times of stress, we must convince the lizard brain that we’re safe.
1. Soothe your nervous system Convincing the lizard brain of its safety can be challenging when you’re still perceiving a threat. But in our modern lives, many threats to our safety do not require fleeing or fighting, they are interpersonal conflicts that require wizard-brain skills like self-awareness, thoughtful communication, and www.rid.org
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