Please Plan
Proactive coping is a method of anticipating potential stressors and acting in advance to prevent them or mute their impact. This puts a person in a future oriented mindset, which has been scientifically proven to make a person less reactive to stress. It is a tool for protecting your peace, which is essential for your overall health. Even if you are not ready to start nailing down dates in your calendar, starting with a simple list of intended activities can be a powerful tool in anticipating future fun and not getting caught up in the sometimes frustrating minutia of our day to day. This can be as simple as a hair appointment or an emergency fund.
A widely accepted model of mental processing centers around the idea that the brain is only capable of processing a limited amount of information at a time. This means that when we have a to-do list that keeps piling up, the processing gets jammed. Think of sending too many pages to an outdated printer; all the pages would pile up or get jammed on their way out of the paper trays. That can happen with our intended tasks. Without a clearly written out list of these goals, it can be difficult to form a plan of attack to eliminate these mental stressors. For me, checking a physical box on a to-do list is extremely satisfying, but it turns out just making the list can help prevent becoming overwhelmed. All the good feels.
In a world full of uncertainties, it can be easy to feel out of control sometimes, and that’s okay. We cannot control everything, but focusing on the things we can, can reduce stress immensely. When we feel powerless, we can experience anxiety. Uncertainty has been proven to have a strong tie to anxiety and even depression. Without plans, we put ourselves in a perpetual holding pattern and that can become increasingly unsettling. As humans, we have the unique ability to think about the future, and in doing so we are in line with our nature, well some of our natures.
As I stated earlier, planning did not feel in my nature, but I have truly benefited from learning that behavior. I find that I am more ready to handle random occurrences, outside variables, when I’ve made a solid plan for myself. The main focus has been on my comfort and the reduction of stressors. I tend to run warm, so accounting for the weather and planning an appropriate outfit can make all the difference in how I experience my day. Sounds silly, and it is! Lists are my jam. Knowing what I need to get done in the short term and long term, helps me organize my thoughts about the best way to tackle my to-dos. As always, I will never tell you what to do, but the science here is sound and there are a million ways and things to plan. In fact, I am looking forward to some upcoming dinner plans as I type and I hope you are too!
by Catie Zimmerman
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash