Churns are bad news. These are moments when everything seems to be going wrong and, no matter how you respond to the first event, five more things happen right after or at about the same time. It's very easy to suddenly feel out of control, defeated, and go into depression really quick, especially if you're already stressed and challenged everyday just keeping a lid on things.
Most times, churns happen with sudden, unexpected financial hits. This can be a car breakdown, a medical emergency, getting laid off or fired from a job, sudden damage to your valuable property, or a schedule cancellation. In and of themselves, each are big issues take a lot of energy and time to resolve, even though they might be taken care of in a few days. At the time it can feel like a long slog through a desert. However, when you get two, three or even five of these issues all at about the same time, it can become overwhelming.
Surviving a churn means having a mindset for dealing with compartmentalizing problems quickly. The first step is to stabilize yourself and eliminate the possibility of more problem compounding. While you can't control the unpredictable, you definitely can manage your regular day. That means, shutting down wasted energy often in the form of people who doing nothing for you and are simply sucking up your energy expecting you to explain what's going wrong. If they have nothing to add or assist you with, tell them to kindly take a powder and get back to them in a few days. They will only drive up your stress even more.
Second step, once you are stabilized, sequence out your plan of recovery. For example, if you car broke down, you lost work, and now you feel ill, focus on what is needed right away. Being sick means you need to shut down, so the car can wait, and work isn't going to change, so take some medicine and go to sleep. Tomorrow you can look for work and figure out a repair situation or how to take the bus where you need to go instead. The goal with the second step is to prioritize your immediate need, and then line up the other things for later that you can work on with more time and more energy. Most times, trying to respond to everything at the same time immediately is a mistake. You yourself need to recovery mentally and get back into an active place again versus a panicked one.
Third step, once stabilized and your immediate situation is responded to, focus now on persistent efforts on recovery. Lost a job, start filling out job applications, calling friends and networks, and picking up temporary work. Loss of income becomes dramatic, but it really hits about 30 days later with most people's billing cycles. So, believe it or not, that's actually a good amount of time to really focus on concentrated job searching.
Dealing with a car repair at the same time, look at all your accounts and assets to see what's actually possible. If you can't repair the car, let it sit in a safe, parked place, and use public transit instead. You still get to your work or school with some inconvenience and you have more time to resolve your car repair.
The point is, push those issues out that can be resolved over time and don't let the immediacy of everything overwhelm you. It can feel like a mental tidal wave and everything is being washed away at the same time that you worked so hard for. However, the most powerful tool you have is your brain and resiliency to adapt to change. Use it. Think your way out of the problem, prioritize, and progressively recover.
