If you've never had the pleasure of sitting through one of LJ Ducksbury's training sessions before, they have a style. LJ brings energy, charisma and always some fun and this session didn't disappoint!
We asked LJ to close the day with energy, and to send everyone away feeling empowered and motivated to get back to school and use all the things they had learned. She did that and more. The session started with an anxiety provoking, overwhelming demand of simultaneous tasks, whilst Linkin Park and Marylin Manson blared out over the speakers. She screamed requests at us, threw chocolates to us, demanded the answered to a maths test whilst having us stand up and down repeatedly and blowing a whistle! It was awful. And great fun!
The point of course, was to overwhelm us and induce a stress response. From there she unpicked the difference between overwhelm and stress, the types of overwhelm we experience, and crucially how we experience it. With a little neuroscience, some techniques on how to manage our workload and a lot of bigger picture thinking about work and life (balance), we were able to take a new perspective. Key to that being - Where you place your focus, becomes your reality.
For a simple technique on managing your workload and reducing overwhelm, LJ talked us through the ABCDE model. If you'd like to know more, here's a summary article from LinkedIn.
"The current buzz word is wellbeing, but I often feel that we are forced to discuss how we are feeling and that just makes my wellbeing worse. I now feel that I have the power to change things that I am finding difficult with my role. Not "I am overwhelmed ARGGHH", but "I am overwhelmed I need to...". I am the author of my own story and I can chose active challenges that reduce that feeling of being overwhelmed. I have also reflected on what makes me happy and everyone in my house got a big hug tonight!"
We know that schools can be overwhelming regardless of your role, if you want to discuss ways to support your teams or your young people to support themselves in times of stress and overwhelm, talk to your EP or get in touch info@appliedpsychologies.com.
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