Crisis Mode

When you hit crisis mode it may feel as if all your faculties have shut down, when in fact they have not stopped but been channeled towards resolving the crisis. Your brain suddenly remembers memories you had once forgotten, keenly aware of the events leading up to, and creating the situation you now find yourself in. It is essentially the flight-or-fight response geared towards fight mode. The multitude of ideas, thoughts, concepts, and plans that consistently fill your mind are replaced by the desire to figure out the present situation and find amicable resolution.

I recall back in my undergraduate days minoring in corporate communications and taking public relations courses, the idea of crisis management was a significant theme. When a crisis arises an entire company may halt its operations, experts called in, appointments and daily personal lives cancelled all in an aimed attempt to move quickly and effectively. Similarly, when we hit a crisis situation in our personal life we may stop our day, call our friends and family for advice, and cancel prior engagements to deal with the situation. A Public Relations practitioner is typically the best resource for a company/organization to use in a crisis situation because above all else your public image is most essential to surviving the crisis. However, when dealing with a personal crisis one can often find the best resource is not so easily ascertainable.

This is because it is in our nature to reach out during crisis mode. We, like organizations, can turn all our faculties and senses to the resolution of this crisis, but we still seek external help to solve internal problems. This is natural and it is also a mistake. Unlike an organization our personal crises are likely not affected by government regulations, stock values, and the consequences of our personal crisis are not likely to be covered by the likes of Washington Post or Page Six. In crisis mode the best plan comes from within you. By all means talk to friends and family, I always do, but ultimately you have to decide the correct course of action because you are the one who has to deal with the results. You remember how when the crisis first came about, you began recalling all the events that led up to it; this is to show that you are the one most equipped with the tools and understanding of the crisis and perhaps how best to resolve it. Whether to take the aggressive, passive aggressive, or standoff approach is ultimately a call you will have to make. Take counsel when you need it, heed the advice as you see fit, make the best effort to deal with the situation swiftly and effectively, and if you should fail; fail knowing that you naturally gave it your best shot. This is crisis mode.