Mind over matter How to maintain a positive mindset when faced with challenges “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t... you’re right” – Henry Ford By Louise Pode, resilience and positive psychology coach, Director of ProAbility Ltd he airline industry has had to deal with some significant challenges over the years, but nothing like COVID-19 and the effect it is having on our lives. In particular, it’s had a huge impact on the livelihood of pilots as airlines announce redundancies on a scale never experienced before. So many have already faced redundancy with Monarch, Thomas Cook and Flybe before the recent impact of COVID-19. As if this was not enough, there is virtually zero recruitment for pilots. The global profession now faces the challenges of sweeping redundancies, loss of vocation, status, identity, lifestyle – is it any wonder you may be feeling anxious? COVID-19 has influenced our physical wellbeing, curtailing freedom of movement, socialising and our ability to work, and also poses an overwhelming threat to mental health. The emotional effects maybe hidden – increased uncertainty, insecurity, vulnerability and isolation are all detrimental. In aviation, since the Germanwings incident of 2015, the requirements to safeguard mental health are now firmly enshrined in airline safety culture and medicals. However, first aid is best administered by recognising the symptoms in yourself or those immediately around you. Feeling strong emotions is part of the mental process of dealing with the enormity of the situation. Conversely, when the feelings of panic and anxiety become overwhelming and ongoing, it serves no purpose. As pilots, you have strategies for dealing with pressurised situations, emergencies and complex problems, but do you know how to manage your mental health and wellbeing? As with emergency procedures in the simulator, you need clarity of mind and decision-making models to find your way forward. Making sense of how you feel and why is fundamental, and the first step in managing your mental health and wellbeing. Making a change The Change Curve model (see Figure 1), developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, adeptly illustrates human emotional reaction to change and is so relevant to our responses to the impact of COVID-19. It describes a journey of three stages: Change Positive Negative Time Stage 1: shock and denial There must be many of you out there who experienced this first stage when you received notification of either redundancy or the company going bust. Shock is our first reaction to change. It puts you on high alert, intensifying your senses as you search to understand the situation. You desperately search for information on what is happening, why it’s happening, how it will affect you and what your choices are, so you can start to process its enormity. There are so many unknowns here that you might have felt overwhelmed and paralysed by the impact on your colleagues, family, financial security and future. After the initial shock has passed, denial is experienced, characterised by a focus on the past and an urge to return to the status quo. It feels like a surreal event as you attempt to process the challenges. To overcome the denial, you seek information from any source – your employer, peers, and support groups – who may not have the solutions. Think of all those reasons to feel hope that you’ve been looking at over the past few weeks – such as hepa filters, travel corridors, increased bookings – as reasons for why people might want to fly again. Stage 2: anger and depression During this second stage, morale plummets and anxiety levels peak; you are at the bottom of the curve. The financial impact, change in lifestyle, and loss of status and self-worth becomes a reality. It can be hard to express your feelings and depression sets in as you acknowledge what you have lost. Many of you have been in the aviation community for years and are specialists in your own field, trained to a high level, within a structured environment, in a role that you love and which is suddenly taken away. It is much more than financial loss. A sense of being out of control compounds feelings of anger and despair. We all cope in different ways as our usual anchors in life are taken away from us; there is no right or wrong way here. Your reactions are a normal emotional response to the magnitude of change you are experiencing. Stage 3: acceptance and integration The final phase is acceptance and integration as, over time – after anger, depression and anxiety – a more optimistic and positive mood begins to emerge. This is the time to focus on using problem-solving models such as TFORDEC (Time, Facts, Options, Risk, Decision, Execute, Check) or DODAR (Diagnose, Options, Decide, Act or Assign, Review) to explore available options that can be analytically assessed. Using these to move you through the curve to acceptance, they will enable you to collect the facts, and diagnose where you are and where you want to be. This will enable you to start to create order out of the chaos you’re experiencing and set goals. At this stage, you stop focusing on what you have lost and accept that change is inevitable as you look to the future. There is an appreciation that life is going to be different and you begin to work with the changes – rather than against them – and learn to adapt. This is where a new-found optimism of hope and acceptance emerges as you have had a chance to reflect, and find ways of improving your resilience. It is important to recognise you have choices, that there is always more than one option. As highly skilled pilots, you have a vast skill set that is transferable to other sectors. Recognising and accepting this gives clarity and creates optimism. You focus on new opportunities, and can look to the future knowing real progress can be made. As individuals, we react differently to change and not all of us will experience every phase. Some people may spend a lot of time in stages 1 and 2, while others, who are more accustomed to change, may move swiftly into stage 3. For those more prone to anxiety and depression, the challenge is to make sure you don’t get stuck in either stage 1 or 2. These are the phases where you can become overwhelmed by the enormity of the events. The challenge is how to shift your mindset from anxious to logical and move through the change curve and step up to the challenges ahead. Here are some counter-measures to work through to enable you to change your mindset and build resilience. Develop your self-awareness Understanding yourself and your emotions is the first step in regaining control and overcoming your stress and anxiety. You will be more able to develop your resilience and overcome your challenges, rather than be defined by them. It is important to set time aside and reflect on how you are feeling. There are numerous symptoms of stress and anxiety including: ● Psychological signs, such as irritability, low self-esteem, poor memory, over-analysing and poor concentration ● Physical signs including poor sleeping pattern, muscle tension, fatigue, change in weight, headaches, skin irritation and increased blood pressure ● Behavioural changes including erratic behaviour, over-working, being louder than normal, and difficulty getting things done. When you recognise your symptoms of stress, it is important to consider your triggers and mitigate them. Often it can be the small things that tip the balance – you can be dealing with major changes in your life, but a misplaced comment can cause a powerful counter reaction. How can you anticipate and manage those stress triggers, so they don’t increase your anxiety? Once you are aware of your symptoms and triggers, you can create a tool kit of coping strategies to stop them from escalating. It could be exercise, using health and wellbeing apps or listening to your favourite music to help create calm. Regain control Feeling out of control enhances stress and anxiety. By taking steps to regain control, you will start to feel empowered and more positive. Use the skill set you have refined as a pilot to remain calm in the face of adversity. ● Control those things that are within your circle of influence ● Prioritise what you would like to achieve ● Create a weekly routine ● Structure each day with a sense of purpose ● Build in actions that deliver or contribute to your goals ● Reduce time spent focusing on uncertainties out of your control. Do not let them be constantly in your thoughts ● Put your anxieties in a metaphorical drawer and set a limited time aside each day to consider them. Be careful to close the drawer again afterwards and focus on what you have achieved and your next step forward. Set goals Goals give you focus; they motivate and create a clear sense of direction. Most importantly, they empower you. The key aim is to work towards a goal that creates a feeling of accomplishment and gives you a sense of purpose. Prioritise and write down your goals to give you clarity and commitment. ● Make your goal really come to life. Visualise it and anchor it by immersing yourself in your feelings of success ● How will you know when you have achieved it? Put yourself in that moment and imagine how you feel ● Write down an action plan to achieve each goal ● Imagine how good you will feel when you achieve a goal in which you have emotionally invested and earmarked as important to you. Stage 1 2 3 Reaction Shock Denial Anger Depression Acceptance Integration Figure 1: The Change Curve model: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross MENTAL HEALTH FEELINGS MENTAL FOCUS RELAXATION MINDSET STAY CONNECTED Creating goals and adding structure and routine to your day will give you a sense of purpose and direction Manage your mindset Your mindset is fundamental to how you manage your challenges. Those with a negative, ‘glass half empty’ mindset will have a very different experience to those with a positive, resilient mindset. Your thoughts directly influence how you are feeling and how you behave, which creates your reality. Once you draw a conclusion about yourself, you are likely to look for evidence that reinforces your belief and discount anything that is contrary to it. If you think you are going to be successful, you will feel like a success. Then, you will behave like you are successful in the way you think, hold yourself and communicate, which reinforces your belief that you are a success. Of course, the converse is true and you need to guard against reinforcing self-limiting beliefs such as “I do not have the skill set to have an alternative, successful career”. Henry Ford had a clear understanding of the impact of mindset when he said: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t... you’re right.” So, how do you influence your mindset? By changing your focus, the language you use to yourself and your physiology. We can switch our mindsets by thinking about a situation that creates anxiety and notice how it immediately impacts on our emotions. Conversely, reflect on a time when you felt on top of the world and notice how different you feel. When you have challenges to overcome, you need to be able to create that positive mindset on an ongoing basis to be resilient and enable you to think clearly on your way forward. When you are immersed in negativity such as redundancy, your mind will default to picking up on everything negative around you, filtering out all the positives. To shift your focus away from this you need to consciously and deliberately identify positives in your life and acknowledge them to yourself. A great way of developing a positive focus is to identify goals for yourself to achieve – this gives you a sense of purpose. Deflect your thoughts away from your personal challenges and focus on your goals and helping others who are struggling with their situation. The second step is changing the language you use to yourself – your inner voice. Your inner voice can doubt your ability and reinforce your lack of confidence creating anxiety. If you had a friend who spoke to you like your inner voice, you would have dropped them a long time ago. While you cannot eliminate your inner voice, you can take control and manage it. Talk to yourself with compassion, be kind to yourself, and use positive language to tell yourself you can do this and you are going to find a way through. The final step is to manage your physiology to put your body in a calm state. When we are stressed and anxious, we develop symptoms such as muscle tension, headaches and increased breathing rate. It’s a powerful physiological response to our stress. It is well recognised that deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen to your brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes a state of calm. Exercise is also effective as it changes your breathing rate, shifts your focus and creates endorphins and a sense of achievement. Mindfulness, meditation, relaxation and yoga calm your mind. Stay connected The support networks that you have created with friends, colleagues and family are hugely beneficial. While many WhatsApp groups in the pilot community were originally set up as a way of information sharing, they soon evolved into a supportive environment where pilots could voice their anxiety and concerns. These are invaluable connections creating shared experiences during the enormity of the crisis you are experiencing. To have a forum where you can be heard, listened to and acknowledged, and provide support to others, creates a sense of stronger together. Use LinkedIn and your personal connections to explore other potential avenues of employment. Surround yourself with people who motivate and inspire you. These are unprecedented times in the aviation world that will impact your mental health. While the situation can be overwhelming, by taking small steps you can start to regain some control. Developing your self-awareness by reflecting where you are on the Change Curve and acknowledging how you are feeling will enable you to identify coping strategies to maintain your mental health. Using a systematic approach to creating goals for yourself, adding structure and routine to your day, will give you a sense of purpose and direction. Managing your mindset through your focus, language and physiology to create resilience and positivity will enable you to think logically and with clarity, so the road ahead to your future becomes clear. Louise Pode SRP BSc (Hons) MSc is a resilience and positive psychology coach, and Director of ProAbility Ltd (www.ProAbility.co.uk). Louise is currently running resilience coaching programmes specifically for pilots. If there are aspects of this article that resonate with you and you would like to discuss them, she would be delighted to hear from you. Email louise.pode@ProAbility.co.uk. PSYCHOLOGY Impact Mind over matter PSYCHOLOGY Mind over matter How to maintain a positive mindset when faced with challenges PSYCHOLOGY