Aisbett - Cruising Through Calamity

To the family of humanity, with whom we are all sharing this incredible ride.

Special thanks to Angelo Madrid for his fabulous work finalising my doodles!

CRISIS. It can happen to ANYONE.

And then it happened to EVERYONE!

I first started working on the idea of a book to help people with anxiety deal with BIG, SUDDEN upheavals in their lives when I was going through my own BIG, SUDDEN and very SCARY upheaval several years ago.

Little did I know then that, in time, a book on handling crisis would become as TIMELY and ESSENTIAL as this was to be.

When COVID-19 appeared on the horizon, our lives would change in ways never before imagined and on a scale we never could have predicted.

For many, and especially for people already struggling with ANXIETY, this has been an experience that strikes at the heart of some of their DEEPEST FEARS.

It is a CALAMITY.

And yet, not EVERYONE shares this view or is experiencing the PANDEMIC in the SAME way. For some people, there are actually POSITIVE aspects of the changes that have come with COVID-19. In fact, some people are actually SAILING through the crisis!

How are they doing this? And what might we LEARN from COVID-19 that can help even an ANXIOUS person move more CALMLY through whatever crisis might come their way?

That is what this book is created to explore finding ways to NAVIGATE through the most TROUBLING times.

At the time of writing, we are only a few months into one of the most SIGNIFICANT and LIFE-CHANGING events of our generations history.

In the manner typical of lifes big, nasty shocks, out of the blue CORONAVIRUS marched into our lives and turned them upside-down in ONE FELL SWOOP.

For some people, this represented the arrival of their DARKEST NIGHTMARE that TERRIBLE THING that had always lurked in the background, ready to pounce.

But for others, it really hasnt been that BIG a deal. A few months of DISCOMFORT, some ADJUSTMENTS thats all. Some have even found that SLOWING DOWN their hectic routines can be RELAXING!

How could there be two such CONTRASTING responses to something so SIGNIFICANT?

From the very start, we saw people react to this crisis in markedly DIFFERENT ways.

Some went into FULL PANIC MODE...

... while others were more MODERATE in their response.

For those people with a history of ANXIETY, this has been a very TESTING time even people who have not had pre-existing anxiety have been feeling some degree of anxiety for the FIRST TIME.

As far as CRISES go, COVID-19 is the FULL PACKAGE. Because of the virus, we have been challenged not only on FAMILIAR anxiety-provoking issues such as ILLNESS and MORTALITY, RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN and FINANCIAL STRESS but also, very SIGNIFICANTLY, we have been thrown upon OURSELVES more intensely than ever before through ISOLATION and SOCIAL DISTANCING.

However, as SWEEPING and EPIC as the COVID-19 crisis appears, it is still, by definition, a CRISIS and, like ANY crisis, it needs to be FACED and WORKED through.

And you could do this in a state of:

Regardless of your PARTICULAR crisis, whether it be...

... or even a GLOBAL PANDEMIC...

... how DEEPLY this impacts on you and how QUICKLY and EASILY you RESOLVE your crisis depends less on EXTERNAL factors and more on how you navigate your EMOTIONAL journey through this time.

Lets take a look at the CORONAVIRUS journey as an example, to compare how different ways of seeing events in ANXIOUS or NON-ANXIOUS ways demonstrate this.

When the crisis FIRST unfolded, this was NEW and UNKNOWN territory. For ANXIOUS people, the UNKNOWN is the greatest threat, because the space that the unknown presents can all too easily be filled with NIGHTMARE SCENARIOS even BEFORE they happen!

In the early stages of a crisis, there is a tendency to become OBSESSED with the issue. In looking to others for REASSURANCE, we keep the problem at the FOREFRONT. It is ALL we TALK about, THINK about and SEE and, in doing so, we keep the FEAR cranked to the MAX!

When it comes to PRACTICAL MATTERS, these are interpreted as either evidence of even GREATER danger or sensible precautions to PREVENT danger.

And then came the BIGGEST challenge LOCKDOWN! For SOME, this was another form of THREAT or even PUNISHMENT!

And with SOCIAL DISTANCING, we have been cut off from human contact in a number of ways, which can be a HUGE challenge for many people.

Then at last, restrictions begin to EASE. And yet...

And finally, it was time to contemplate the FUTURE.

Can you see how your REACTION to a crisis is the thing that determines whether the experience is DEVASTATING or MANAGEABLE?

Its true that some situations are EXTREMELY challenging, but even so...

We can learn a great deal about managing ANY crisis from the CORONAVIRUS experience, and we will be exploring some more of those lessons later.

In the meantime, the AIM of this book is to help you learn to RESPOND, rather than REACT, to whatever has come your way.