by Kellene Bishop

Panic situations, as the brain interprets them, assault us regularly.  When I say “panic” I don’t necessarily mean being attacked in a crime. It could be a matter of having 3 different choices thrown at you all at the same time. You stop. Feel a bit panicky and wait while your brain makes a decision.

Panic can make your brain freeze photo c/o philadelphia-reflections.com

The other day I was at the grocery store.  As I was taking off my seat belt I saw an elderly man just outside of the store crumble and fall to the pavement.  I swear it happened in slow motion (more on that phenomenon at a later date).  I am sure that I stopped for a second. I absolutely cringe at the site of people falling. It looks so awful and painful. Anyway, a millisecond later my brain kicked in. Without even thinking, I grabbed my purse, swooped out of the door, locked my car, and ran over to the man to help him before anyone else had noticed.  This is a feat when you consider that I’m overweight and out of shape.  As I was running up to the man I passed by an athletic young man and an older, robust man who were both substantially closer to the elderly gentleman that I was. Fortunately, the man wasn’t seriously injured, although I’m sure he’ll have bruising later. He simply had tripped on an elevated portion of cement. By the time I helped him up the other two men that I had passed came up to see what they could do to help as well.

Training helps you respond to situations quickly so you can be of assistance. photo c/o www.acsos.co.uk

So, what was the difference between me and the two men who were closer to the elderly gentleman? I assure you it wasn’t my physical agility—probably doesn’t exist. And I assure you it wasn’t the size of my heart. Both men expressed a sincere concern for this elderly gentleman. The difference was how my brain is trained to respond to scenarios of assistance versus other people in these kinds of scenarios.  I’m not super woman by any stretch of the imagination. This scenario doesn’t qualify on the same level as my house being on fire, a gun being held to my face, or a car accident.  But it still did require mental input and a response. My brain simply had run through this kind of scenario more often and more intently than the other two men. As a result, I had a faster response time as well as an accurate one.  I asked the man multiple questions before trying to lift him to make sure that lifting was appropriate. Whereas the other two men simply asked “are you all right?”  In hindsight, I’ve hopefully trained my brain to walk the man to his car or to give him a ride to wherever he needed to go if this kind of scenario were to happen again. The other interesting aspect to this response is that even though I could have cared less at that moment whether or not I had my purse or that my car was locked, I still ended up locking the car and had my purse in tow.  Why? Because I’ve trained my brain time and time again to perform that physical response to getting out of the car.  It’s the same thing when my husband gets into my car instead of his truck.  His hand automatically goes to a non-existent steering wheel shift instead of the one in my car which is down on his right side. 

Ok. Hopefully it’s a bit obvious as to why I’m sharing all of this with you.  When your brain responds to something it only has two issues. To respond with actual knowledge—which is then called SKILL; or to respond with a default response—which is usually freezing and then fraternizing. You literally freeze while your brain is computing what in the world to do with the scenario. It will then pull the context which best fits your scenario. If you haven’t provided your brain with any PHYSICAL practice accompanied by purposeful visualization, then you will freeze, and then look to fraternize with other people looking for input for your brain, instead of acting appropriately.  Those freezing and fraternizing moments can cost you and those around you a great deal—even your life. 

Make sure your training includes maintaining your weapon! photo c/o legacy.signonsandiego.com

Here’s an example of the wrong response your brain can provide you with as a result of the improper input you give it.  In Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s book “On Killing” he discusses what an impact training your brain can be. He also shares a story that enlightens us as to the consequences of training your brain incorrectly. He shares a story of how a police officer was trained how to take a firearm away from a perpetrator. This successful process was drilled into this man’s brain again and again. He would take the firearm away from his sparring partner successfully, then hand it back to the partner so that they could to the practice exercise again. Unfortunately, when the time came for the police officer to actually take a gun away from a perpetrator, he instinctively did so and then gave the gun back to the perpetrator just as he had practiced!

How we respond to any scenario, whether it’s our kids yelling and screaming, the sound of the fire alarm in a building that causes you simply to roll your eyes and stay put, or how you mindlessly type in your password into your computer—is determined by the information your brain already possesses.  When a scenario hits you, your entire body allocates energy to the brain so that it can solve the problem and determine a response.  Notice I did not say a “proper response.” I said a “response” period.  I’ll say it again. How your brain determines a response is based upon the previous input you’ve provided it. If someone sneezes and you find yourself mindlessly saying “God bless you” that is as a result of previous input your brain has formulated.  When you hear mouth noises and it bugs the living cells out of you, it’s because you were raised at a strict dinner table where such chomping, snapping and smacking were not allowed. (Yes, I am very intolerant in this regard. I simply cannot stand it any more than I can tolerate someone not taking their hat off in a church or someone not placing their right hand over their heart during the pledge of allegiance). It bugs my entire being primarily because of the input my brain has previously received. As another somewhat deviating example, I kept praying during a large church meeting the other day that a gal would stop smacking her gum behind me so that I could get more out of the message on “charity.”  I guess I wasn’t feeling very charitable in being forced to listen to her cow chomping. So it’s no surprise to me that two days later I asked a woman out loud in the movie theater to stop smacking her gum. Previous brain input. That’s what determines our responses. Our body essentially freezes while we calculate and decide how to respond. Your brain searches for memories so that it can create a context that best fits the situation you’re confronted with.  

Are you prepared mentally to face moments that need quick decisions? photo c/o rfs.nsw.gov.au

So, what I’m trying desperately to get us all to think about is appropriately programming our minds to handle as many scenarios as possible. When I was just 8 years old, a small fire broke out in our kitchen stove. I didn’t know how serious it was at the time. All I knew is that my mother had repeatedly told me that if there was ever a fire in our home that it was my job to get the kids outside. As soon as I saw that fire in the stove, I immediately hustled my brother and sister outside and stayed there until we got the “all clear” from the adults.  I will never forget the amount of praise my mother showered on me, telling me that I had done a good job. She didn’t say it was just a little bitty fire and not to worry. They didn’t need to call the fire department. It was put out in less than a minute. But my brain responded simply to the only training Mom had previously given me.

The good news is that our brains are such amazing, miraculous tools, that there is not a single serious scenario you cannot train your mind to safely and appropriately respond to.  Instead of jerking the steering wheel and slamming on the brakes, we can actually train ourselves to respond quickly to our car being tossed out of control. Instead of jumping under a table during an earthquake, we can train ourselves to immediately crouch next to a large bed or table. And instead of screaming and panicking when someone tries to attack us, we can train ourselves to appropriately and soundly defend ourselves. We can train ourselves to immediately provide our brain with oxygen and then act.  All it takes is deliberate, accurate, and fully concluded practice. So, yes, run those fire drills with your family.  Practice changing a tire.  Practice responding to a startled state with a, deliberate, defensive, forward response instead of a backwards one. While you may never in your wildest dreams be able to anticipate being attacked by a pelican during a live news broadcast, I’m sure you’re brain will come up with the next best solution if you’ve prepared it sufficiently. Literally, the success is all in your head.

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by Kellene Bishop

I’ve decided to be very forthright and open in today’s article in hopes that it truly does help someone else.  I often hear people say “I don’t know how you do all that you do.”  I smile and thank them for their gracious compliment, but the truth of it is, I do what I do while challenging a significant obstacle—depression.

Depression can take hold of anyone. photo c/o hopeworkscommunity.wordpress.com

I realize that in this kind of forum I’m only going to be able to scratch the surface on this topic, but I firmly believe that it has not been appropriately addressed in real-life terms and is especially absent topic in the arena of preparedness.

First of all, allow me to dispel some myths of depression.  Depression isn’t a mood, it’s a disease. It’s a break down in the chemical functions of the body that impair communications from the brain to the rest of the body.  The impairment of proper brain charges and chemicals is much like someone having low blood sugar, or high insulin levels, a heart murmur, or a person in need of blood thinners, etc.  In other words, it’s about a deficiency in the body.

Depression isn’t about “woe is me, I want to end my life,” although many forms of depression can get that serious.  There are many levels of depression. Some levels of depression are the lowest of the low and considered “manic.” Other forms manifest themselves when a person eats poorly or doesn’t get enough rest.  Still other forms manifest themselves on a low level throughout a person’s life or on a higher level when a great deal of decision making is thrust upon them. (it feels more like an anxiety though, at that point rather than what some people would associate with “depression.”) Feeling grief or unresponsive due to a severe tragedy in a person’s life isn’t depression. It’s responding naturally to life. Although some people do have a physiological change in their chemical make up in response to such an instance and succumb to depression as a result.  It’s actually very similar to someone being injured in a car accident. Instead, a person’s heart, brain, chemical balance, etc. is injured in a collision with grief.

The grief process can be exacerbated by depression photo c/o www.theocentric.com

Contrary to assumptions, depression isn’t always about a feeling of low or sadness. Sometimes it’s feeling a serious lack of energy to do anything proactive. Sometimes the chemical imbalance demands a great deal of sleep. Depression isn’t something that a person can just “snap out of.”  You can no easier get a person to “snap out of depression” than you can get a paralyzed person to get up out of their wheelchair and walk as the result of a superhuman will.  Some who struggle with depression appear to the outsiders to be wallowing in their victimization status or their “Eeyore moods.”  What many folks don’t realize is that the depressed person literally can’t see it.  Getting them to “snap out of it” when they are in that state is like trying to get a blind person to see clearly. The vision of a seriously depressed person is physiologically skewed and does not represent full faculties. A person suffering from serious depression simply does not see the world as it really is.  They have chemical blinders, much like a person whose mental capacity is altered by drugs.

Another misconception that I really wish people understood for their own benefit is that depression is NOT triggered by the actions of someone else or a particular experience. Too many folks take blame upon themselves for the heavy level of depression experienced by a loved one in their life. While a great deal of stress or a mean hearted act of someone else may not be helpful to someone who struggles with depression, it’s never solely responsible for the depression. Think about it.  Any person who doesn’t deal with depression is affected by stresses of the day, right?  But what happens in response to life, with a person who has depression, is based primarily to how the body responds to the instance—chemicals and electrical charges and all.  Sometimes the chemical and brain signals are insufficient to appropriately deal with a situation. But just because someone has depression doesn’t give an edict of authority to the rest of the world to change and accommodate the person who struggles with depression either.  Just because I may struggle with depression doesn’t give me the right to alter someone else’s behavior.  To put it another way, my car running out of gas on the way to your house isn’t about you living 500 miles away. It’s about how much gas I have in my car. I have a girlfriend who is married to a man who struggles with depression. She can love him, she can be accommodating to a point. But that doesn’t mean that she is to allow his disability to define her worth and virtue as a wife. In other words, when dealing with a person who has depression, it really is NOT you, it’s them.

Compassion and understand is imperative for those living with depression photo c/o brucefong.wordpress.com

So, if you or a loved one struggle with depression, what can be done so that the disease itself doesn’t preclude you from surviving everyday now as well as serious trials in the future?  The answer is specific to a person with depression at any level, but it also has some commonalities with someone who suffers from diabetes or hear or kidney problems. There is only so much you can do to be prepared. But there are a whole LOT of “so much you can do” actions to take.  And then simply let what will be, be from there.

First of all, the key to surviving depression is accepting it.  It’s real. It’s not going to just go away, and person who has depression MUST deal with it as such. When it comes to depression, I feel like dealing with it is just as serious as dealing with a firearm. I use a firearm regularly, but I have the ultimate of respect for its power. I instinctively keep my finger off of the trigger unless I’m in a safe environment or a necessary environment to use it. The same bodes true with depression. I do NOT mess around with it. I don’t treat it as an inconvenient gnat. I’m not casual with it.  I take care of it head on just like I would if I had diabetes. . What I mean by that is one of the most dangerous things people can do is to ignore their depression.  Such persons must be spoken to when they are not suffering a bout of depression and be brought to realize that this can be a killer disease. Worse, it can not only kill someone physically, but it can zap the life, confidence, and worth out of all of those around you that you love.  That’s the worst kind of death, in my opinion.  Professional assistance should be sought out for ANY level of depression. It may not be at a level which requires medication. But it should be watched just as aggressively as a cancerous lump.

Visit with your doctor about any depression symptoms you may have photo c/o www3.whig.com

Secondly, do everything NATURALLY to help battle the depression as possible. This is where I really get to apply some control over this disability and so can many others. As I’ve often said, Preparedness isn’t about being ready for an emergency. It’s about being independent from your vulnerabilities and conquering them. Even those with a physical limitation can do a great deal to be independent in spite of that challenge. When it comes to depression, taking proactive steps to conquer it has a compounded positive impact because not only do I benefit from the independence and peace that such actions take, I also benefit physically in my minimizing the effect of the disease.  Just as many paraplegics refuse to be a burden on those around them, persons who struggle with depression will also benefit substantially from taking on this responsibility as well.

Every time I drink water, for example, I know that I’m taking my depression head on.  Every time I make a healthier food choice or avoid harmful foods I am taking charge of my depression and how it affects those I love.  Every time I work out, I am showing the depression who’s really the boss. *grin* Every time I push myself towards a proactive work I’m “pushing past the pain” so to speak, much like physical therapy.

(As a side note, proper water hydration, excellent nutrition, and physical activity are ALL significant aids in battling depression but they do need to be consistent.)

Excercise and staying hydrated are a must in battling depression photo c/o skynewswire.com

Next, I treat depression with respect.  When I feel it coming on significantly, I do not ignore it. I let my husband know, “hey, it’s coming on and I’m going to just go lie down.”  He’s been educated enough to know that it isn’t about him or what he did or didn’t do. He knows it just comes about sometimes.  Sometimes it’s more like this kind of conversation: “Honey, I’ve got a bout of depression coming on and I still have this to do to get ready for a class. Can you help me?”  It’s no different in my household than if I were to say “Hey, Honey. I just threw my back out; can you lift this for me?”  I don’t hide it from my husband.  But I don’t worry him excessively because he knows that I treat it head on and listen to what’s going on in my body and pay attention. Doing this actually gives me ability many times to censor myself or my actions in the event that I do feel a bout coming on.  It’s almost like a head game. I can realize that I’m about to respond one way to a scenario, recognize it as being driven by my disability, and instead proactively choose to deal with the scenario by my own agency and not that of my disability. It’s because of this that I sometimes jokingly refer to my depression as that stupid hump on my back that gets in my way sometimes.  “It’s alive!,” I sometimes kid, pointing to the imaginary hump on my back, when I realize that I just did something depression driven. While I respect depression, I refuse to be overcome by it, or be less than I’m created to be as a result of it.  I know an 89 year old man that still gets on his stationary bike at 4:00 a.m. to work out. I know amazing Special Olympics children who thrive beyond many non-impaired persons of privilege. I know mothers who went through horrible abuse at the hands of their husbands and who still set the example for me as the epitome of motherhood.  And so when it comes to depression, I’ve taken on the attitude of “there are no victims, only volunteers.”  It’s not always the magic fairy dust that works, but it puts me in an independent state in spite of the obstacle, and that’s what preparedness is all about.

Give all your pains, frustrations, griefs, worries, and despair over to Christ and He will give you peace.

Lastly, I firmly believe in the power of the Atonement for healing all of our ailments. I know that He suffered not just for our sins, but our pains, griefs, and illnesses as well. Thus I am certain that if I will “wrestle with the Spirit” on a consistent basis that I too will have claim on the efficacy of His atonement to heal what I cannot with all of my best intentions.  I know that the Balm of Gilead is real.  I cannot expect to do 5,000 sit-ups in one day to get a 6-pack of abs.  The price has to be paid over time for such a result, with consistent behavior. This is yet another reason why I’m certain that spiritual preparedness is the number one priority of preparedness. Everything else we may work on can be at the mercy of our effectiveness in that one aspect. Regular fervent prayer, meditation, scripture study—and ensuring that my other activities don’t negate the affect of these actions—is just as important to my depression management as is the medical and nutritional aspects.

And that, my friends, is how I recommend overcoming ANY physical impairment in favor of preparedness today and in the future.

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For any questions or comments on this article, please leave a comment on the blog site so that everyone can benefit!

Copyright 2010 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.  All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to www.PreparednessPro.com & Kellene Bishop