Hear Directly from our Clients Â
Dr. Larry and "Staying Present Under Pressure"
Larry is working in the emergency department. It's 11pm on a Saturday night. It's the middle of winter and two doctors have called in sick. Everything seems too slow; patients are waiting too long, pathology is slow, the beds are full, ambulances are ramping, the triage nurse is agitated, someone in the waiting room has just started to scream. Larry hasn’t had anything to eat or drink since he started four hours ago. His stress response is activated, whether he notices it in the moment or not. He is getting deeper and deeper into the red zone.Â
As he moves between the patients and consults with his colleagues, he notices that his energy is dipping. He goes over to the water filter, pausing to take a couple of mouthfuls of water. His mind is full of thoughts about how he can possibly keep up with two doctors down. He worries about making a mistake and feels frustrated about the pathology results he's waiting on.Â
Larry notices that he’s feeling a bit anxious, and he names the feeling to himself: “anxiety is here.” As he does, he remembers that his intention as he arrived at work today was to practise raising his awareness. He labels his experience again to himself, saying, “anxiety is here and my stress response is activated.” Just noticing and saying this is validating and seems to help him process the emotions.
He feels a little steadier. He chooses to take one long, slow breath out to help reengage his pre-frontal cortex and balance his nervous system. This helps him let go of the critical and blaming judgements that were gathering in his mind, creating tension in his body. He is more present to his own body now, so he drinks a little more water.Â
Larry makes his way to the next patient feeling stabilised. As he walks, he focuses on his feet feeling the floor. This simple mindful practice is grounding and brings him into the present moment. He arrives at the next patient’s bed feeling steady, focused, and clear of mind, having interrupted the slide into deep red zone territory.Â
Dr. Coby's journey From Time Management to Energy AlignmentÂ
Coby is a successful, rapidly advancing, speciality surgeon. He worked very long hours in three hospitals in a major city. He was on several committees and was enjoying establishing himself as a go-to surgeon in his field. Coby came to coaching saying he needed better time management skills. His first child was just six months old, so uninterrupted sleep was a thing of the past. Coby was sawy, committed, and ambitious for himself, his family, and his patients. He was completely invested in being the best he could be.Â
When he wasn't thinking about work, he was on social media - he loved poli-tics. One day as we were in session, he observed out loud that he was always on his phone, even when he was taking care of his young son. Later, he told me he liked to go for walks and would like to start running again like he had in his younger days. Then he paused, and realised he'd done neither for nearly a year. Coaching had created enough space for Coby to notice his own behaviour. Of course, he knew about his habits already, but he hadn't taken enough space to really pause, to stop and notice their impact. He had avoided focusing on them. As coach, I held him to account by wanting to talk about what he was noticing, by not skating over his story.
We stayed with these realities of his life as Coby felt his own discomfort about letting himself and his son down. It's not easy work, those sessions were no doubt uncomfortable for him! Making the changes he decided to make in the following weeks was also uncomfort-able, but what he achieved as a result was priceless - the relationships with his son and his wife that he wanted. As a result of feeling the discomfort and being clear about his values, Coby was able to recalibrate and find a more sustainable balance. He started thinking about energy rather than time, and he redirected some of his energy towards his family and health values. He was able to step into his discomfort in the safe container of coaching.Â
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