#042 - How to deal with fear and stress by Rich Diviney, a retired Navy SEAL
Hello friends, welcome back! 🎉 (24th October, 2021)
In this podcast with Rich Diviney (a retired Navy SEAL commander and author of The Attributes), hosted by Chris Williamson from the Modern Wisdom podcast, they talked about what it takes to become a Navy SEAL, how to recover from stress quickly, dealing with fear and decisiveness .
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. - Paulo Coelho
Actions
When stressed, open your gaze, try to notice the peripheries
Use the CO2 blowout technique when stressed
Visualise your past moments of joy and happiness
Deal with uncertainty by asking what do you know about the environment, then what can you focus on to move forward
Crack a joke when you need to cope with a difficult situation
On dealing with stress
When stressed, open your gaze, try to notice the peripheries
When stressed, we start to narrow our focus visually, our pupils dilate. Opening your gaze and look at your surroundings allow you to shift out of sympathetic into parasympathetic.
Use the CO2 blowout technique when stressed
Inhale 2 seconds, hold 2 seconds, exhale 4 seconds, hold right after for 4 seconds.
Breathing techniques like this gets rid of the CO2 build-up in your body, when it is under stress and anxiety.
Visualise your past moments of joy and happiness
Our brain applies different neurotransmitters and chemicals to different situations. Visualising positive past moments releases chemicals that make your body feel positive and shift away from the stress you are facing.
On handling fear
Deal with uncertainty by asking what do you know about the environment, then what can you focus on to move forward
Fear is anxiety plus uncertainty. Anxiety is internal and is dealt with using internal responses like open gaze, CO2 blowout technique, visualisation.
Uncertainties are external. By identifying what you can do and chunking uncertainties to smaller steps to take, your body creates dopamine reward after achieving those small steps. This then allows you to move to the next small steps.
Crack a joke when you need to cope with a difficult situation
When we laugh, 3 chemicals are released into our body - dopamine, endorphins (helps us to endure pain), and oxytocin (social bonding chemical). Humour in tough situations like war helps soldiers get through tough situations and lift each other up.