Calm in the Chaos: Mental Strategies to Manage Everyday Scenarios
- bgcsportsandfitnes
- Apr 16
- 5 min read
At times, life can throw lots of different curve-balls our way to the point where it can be difficult to cope. One minute, everything is fine, and the next minute, everything seems to go wrong. Does this sound familiar? It is completely normal and part of our everyday lives. It doesn't mean that you are alone. There are many strategies you can use to help manage these difficult situations, so you can go through life on a positive mindset.
This blog aims to highlights my top strategies to help manage your mental wellbeing, so you can face everything head on and come out of the other side on a positive path. The strategies that I am going to discuss are relevant to exercise as well as outside of exercise, so you can use them whenever you need them.
Strategies
In this section, I will highlight some of the main strategies I like to use to help me manage those difficult situations. Note that no size fits all. There might be some strategies that work more compared to others. The key is to trial and test different strategies to see if any work for you. There is no right or wrong strategy.
1) Visualisation - This strategy involves you imagining yourselves succeeding before you take part in the task or exercise. For example, during exercise, you might visualise yourself running over the finish line at the end of your first marathon. Within your daily lives, you might imagine yourselves handling a difficult conversation. I suggest practicing this strategy at a time when you are not doing anything else (e.g. don't do this while driving!). Don't worry if you keep getting distracted, it takes time to master this skill. All you can do is try your best and don't get frustrated with yourself.
2) Focus on what you can control - This means directing your focus on things you can control rather than the things that you can't. This can be easily said than done though. I suggest making a list of everything that is on your mind (i.e. a brain dump). Then highlight the points that you have control over. Highlighting these helps to bring these more into your focus rather than the ones that are not within your control. For example, you can't control the weather, but you can control what type of workout you do (i.e. a home workout if it is icy outside). In life, you can't control how many tasks you get given at work, but you can control your emotions and how you react to them (i.e. getting angry / upset makes the tasks seem more overwhelming).
3) Flip the Script - This strategy involves looking at challenging situations from a different angle (usually a more helpful angle). For example, in your daily lives, instead of saying "I messed up today", flip the script to say something more along the lines of "I learned something valuable today". This also relates to fitness too. Instead of saying "I missed a workout today, I am a failure", change the angle to say something more like "My body needed a rest today. I will bounce back again tomorrow". As long as you don't keep delaying things. Using these types of phrases over one or two days is okay, but if you repeat these phrases over several days and weeks, it can do the opposite effect (which is not what we want!).
4) Write your Intentions - Sometimes we don't have any control over what comes our way. But we can have different strategies in place to help manage certain situations. For example, "If I feel overwhelmed at work, I will take some deep breathes or going for a 3 minute walk around the house or building". Or in relation to exercise, you might look towards the lines of "I am feeling a bit tired today. I will do a 10 to 15 minute stretching routine instead of a 30 minute cardio session for today". Having a few extra strategies up your sleeves ready to go, can be a quick and easy method to help ensure you address certain challenges straight away rather than delaying and increasing the negative thoughts around those challenging situations. Make a list of anything that might come up and write a strategy next to each one for how you can manage those different situations (Don't worry, you can add to the list over time).
5) Breathwork and Grounding - This is a common strategy that can be used to manage difficult situations. It involves using deep breathing and mindfulness to help reset your mind. For example, taking some deep breathes in between meetings at work to help bring yourselves into a calm state, especially if it was a difficult meeting or listen to a meditation before you go to bed to help with your sleep. You can even use mindfulness techniques during exercise to help improve your mindset. For example, take some deep breathes between hard efforts or listen to a meditation to help prepare you for your next race.
6) Journaling - Often seen as a simple strategy, but it is very effective in helping you to get all your thoughts out of your mind onto a piece of paper. No one else has to see what you have written. Sometimes it is good to get everything out, then rip it up and put it in the bin. For example, writing down everything that is stressing you out in your personal life or writing down what challenges you are currently facing as part of your fitness training. It doesn't necessarily have to all be negative things. You can also write down all of your successes and what is going well. For example, make a record of all your successes during the week (personal life and fitness). Keeping track of your progress is a great way to improve your mental wellbeing and places your focus on these rather than focusing on all the negatives.
Have you heard of the 5-minute rule? It just involves you committing to something for 5 minutes. The aim is to then be able to commit to the rest of the task because you have made a start. Making a start can be the hardest thing, so saying that you will commit for 5 minutes can help to put you on the right path to commit to a task for longer. Why not give it a go and see if it works for you?
Summary
This blog has set out to give you some strategies you can use within your personal lives as well as within your regular fitness routines. As mentioned above, there is no size that fits all, so it is important for you to test out different strategies to see which ones work best for you. You might even have strategies that work for you that are not part of the list above. That is absolutely fine. If it works for you, then it is a good strategy. It does take time to find a strategy (s) that works best for you, so keep going as that one strategy will come to you in time. For now, keep trialling different strategies to see which ones might work best for you.
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