Boiling Frog Syndrome - We all have some sneaky stress.

by Angela Benedict

After a training I had a police officer come up to me to tell me a story. He had been investigated as part of a case he had been part of. This happens more often now and is a huge stress for officers. He is a mountain of a man, a bodybuilder and very aware of his body. Or so he thought. After the case was cleared and his lawyer came to give him the good news, he breathed a very big sigh of relief – and scared himself very badly. Until that moment he had no idea of how much stress he had been holding until he felt his body relax. This lack of awareness of his true state of being scared him and he vowed to incorporate stress management into his physical regime from then on.

This is how many military and law enforcement personnel live day to day, without really knowing how much accumulated stress they have. This will be true for everyone else to some extent as well.

You may have heard of this science experiment. If you take a beaker of water and heat it, then place a frog in the water the frog will immediately recognize that the water is too hot and jump out. But, if you put the frog in the water first and then heat it, the frog will try to acclimatize to the warming water until it overrides its own survival mechanism and boils to death. People do the same thing.

As part of the TTSCT program, Tactical Trauma Self Care Training that I teach, I break down the Combat Stress Spectrum into three parts; Traumatic Stress, Operational Stress and Cumulative Stress. Each part needs to be addressed and strategies given to counter its effects.

We do not naturally incorporate dial down strategies into our lives. We normally wait until there has been an event that makes us take stock of our lives, our ways of doing things. Some people literally have to flat line before they make changes. Don’t wait for that. Consciously begin today to educate yourself about good coping strategies and purposefully integrate these into your life until they are life-saving, life extending habits.

It's not enough to know what to do if you aren't actively DOING what you know how to do. How hot is the water you're in and have been in? You may not even realize the state you're in. Cumulative stress is sneaky stress. It builds over time. Integrate coping strategies whether you think you need them or not. Be proactive.

To your success,

Angela

http://www.militaryhealingcenter.net