Calm Warrior

Stress

Stress can effect your job performance, relationships, health, and your life outside of work. As law enforcement professionals, EMTs, Firefighters and other first responders, it is important to recognize that stress is unavoidable. In many cases, a certain level of stress may be beneficial to us. The goal is to learn to understand the difference between good stress and bad stress and how to navigate both types. STRESS CANNOT BE ELIMINATED BUT IT CAN BE MANAGED by learning skills. Understanding what is bad stress and what constitutes good stress gives you the ability to minimize the effects of bad stress and maximize the benefits of good stress.

Bad stress can rapidly lead to:

  • Headaches
  • Muscle Tension
  • Eye tension
  • Anxiety
  • Tunnel Vision
  • Loss of fine motor skills
  • Shortness of breath
  • Rapid uncontrolled engagement of the “FIGHT or FLIGHT or FREEZE” response
  • Inability to comprehend and respond to an evolving situation

The effects of long-term unmanaged stress may be cumulative and can lead to :

  • Sleep disorders
  • Muscle aches and tension ( back, shoulder and neck aches)
  • Digestive Disorders
  • Immune system suppressed (colds, flus, etc.)
  • Teeth grinding / TMJ disorder
  • Burnout
  • High Blood Pressure and heart issues
  • Short temper
  • Depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Risk taking
  • Isolation
  • Alcohol and/or substance abuse
  • Self Harm – sometimes feels like the only thing we can control
  • Family stress

Benefits of The Calm Warrior Training:

  • Mind: Calm, Focused, Alert, Balanced
  • Body: Strong, Resilient, Increased Endurance

Stressor – A stimulus that causes a (sometimes negative) response to situations or conditions.

Distress – a negative dysfunctional force which if prolonged, can lead to disease and poor health.

Cumulative Stress – Stress arousal which slowly builds up over time and leads to a condition called “burnout”

Burnout – A state of mental and physical exhaustion caused by long term exposure

Stress is linked to leading causes of death – Heart Disease, Cancer, Lung Ailments, Accidents, Cirrhosis of liver, Suicide

Compassion Fatigue – 1. Reduced interest in being empathetic towards others, 2. Taking on the suffering, emotional pain of others, 3. Caused by traumatizing event or recurring exposures.

PTSD symptoms – Anxiety, Depression, Trouble Sleeping, Withdrawal, Loneliness, increased smoking, drinking, substances, eating, as coping, aggressive outbursts, irritability, hypervigilance, easily startled, hypertension.

OSHA has declared stress a hazard in the workplace. Resilience can be learned. Management and Employee Assistance programs have recognized that stress can be dealt with and resilience can be taught. In every first responder career, there needs to be a proactive educational program for becoming powerfully resilient prior to facing critical incidents. Calm Warrior provides practical training to help people manage stress and build resilience, particularly in high-pressure professions.

An unhealthy reaction to stress can make things unbearable –
Consider your thoughts are constantly streaming through your mind.
Stressors can be one time traumatic, or accumulate over a long period of time.
Perceived lack of control triggers the fight, flight, or freeze response.

Examples of thoughts which can trigger the stress response:

A.N.T.s – Automatic Negative Thoughts (cognitive distortions) can give you an unrealistic perception and create more stress in your system – a few examples:

  • All or Nothing thinking
  • Overgeneralization
  • Positive discounting
  • Jumping to Conclusions
  • Blame
  • Catastrophizing
  • Avoidance Thoughts

To reduce stress, question negative thoughts with a reality check. Ask: ‘Is this true? Are there other possibilities?’ Examine the evidence. Replace negative self-talk like ‘I can’t handle this’ with statements like ‘I can figure this out.’ It’s not about forced positivity; it’s about realistic problem-solving. When overwhelmed, seek support from others. We’re social beings, and isolation worsens stress.”