Published on 12, July, 2020
Shutdowns are part of life. There are multiple root causes for a shutdown, including the result of sensory overload, physical and mental exhaustion, unexpected news, anxiety about an upcoming event, and upheaval in our schedule. Sometimes it comes in combination; other times it comes down to simply being “on” for so long, that we have no choice but to turn “off.”
Are you always aware that you are about to go into "shutdown"?
What strategies to you use to help recover from them?
How do you "resurface"
How do you describe what they are to others and try to manage their occurrence?
I think I got an insight into me shutting down this week, and so maybe some insight into managing them. Shutdowns are in the top 3 problems for me.
For the past 2-3 months I've wanted to say thank you to my running coach for being so kind and generous, and how it's impacted me. It's easy to say thanks for the favour, but I wanted to get at the fact it's rare people do favours for me and very hard for me to accept them, but I had accepted it and that was a break in my pattern. I've struggled to say this. It's not a shutdown, but maybe the thin edge of the dynamic.
This week I again wanted to try and say thanks but time was slipping away. I realised I was going to fail again. I realised I'd just have to blurt stuff. I did, it came out, it was a bit messy, I didn't fully communicate it or him get it, but we got say 60% of the exchange done.
I reealised afterwards that there's a parallel with my shutdowns, I'm paralysed by not knowing what to say. So maybe saying anything will help me not shutdown.