Remember the First Lady Nancy Reagan and her campaign to combat drugs? Just say no? Well, I had another epiphany this evening. I was checking out this blog article from HBR about the importance of appreciation. And, if you’ve read my Power of 3 blog, you’ll understand that I’ve generally had a bad day. So the headline resonated enough to read it. And then I scanned the comments and found a note from a reader about the area of the brain that focuses on fear. It reminded me of a branding presentation I’d encountered using psychology and brain logic that is used in branding. The presenter shared how ads can be designed to trigger areas of your brain (reptilian, limbic, neocortex) that are either responding to fear and adventure (think Jeep, this is the fright/flight part of the brain) or to the womb and idea of safety, motherly, nurturing (think plush, leather, interior van) or to the neocortex (language, abstraction) .
Today was the Jeep day. I was vacillating between a visceral reaction in the form of nervous stomach and feeling the urgency to get a plan in place and leave. It was my “catalyst on steroids”. I was already driving my jeep through the door, down the stairs and onto the street. Heck, maybe I was just driving it out the window and flying a couple of stories before landing safely onto the street.
And then, after calming down (yes a glass of wine did the trick), I had another a-ha moment. I need to go into my 8 am meeting tomorrow where I present the “plan”, and be prepared to just say no. I can say yes to some things, but it’s not an all or nothing. I can compromise. And I have nothing to lose. Because not working is still better than losing sight of who I am.
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