Time to breathe

Dr. Melanie Goble

Have you ever had those days when life just seems to be overwhelming you and you feel like you are going to drown in the chaos of life? Yeah, me neither…
Alright, yes, I have felt that way.
I struggle to remember that when life appears to be taking over, I need to take time to breathe. To take that 10-30 seconds of deep breaths. To ground myself. I recently attended an active shooter response training and the officer leading the training spoke about “Combat Breathing.” When things start to go out of control, you get tunnel vision (and hearing). Taking the deep breaths allow your body to get the oxygen it needs to focus well, not on the “other thing” that does not actually need your focus.
When the clinic gets crazy, especially during an emergency, I find myself obsessing over the wrong things. Things like:
How many clients are waiting? How long have they been waiting?
Is the next client going to be mad at me for being late?
Seriously, what did I drop on my shirt? I haven’t had time to eat anything!
I need to be focusing on the case at hand, but my mind seems to scatter and then focus on that stupid stain on my shirt.
How do I get myself to focus? I am still working on that. Asking those that I am working with to remind me to breath helps a lot. We can all take those deep, calming breaths, focus ourselves, and then kick butt like the amazing heroes that we are!