Feeling Frozen?
With all the snow hitting throughout the country, in the last few weeks, especially in places which haven’t seen the white stuff in 48 years, I thought it was interesting to look at how different people and things can become frozen. This storm set new records for snow accumulation in Pensacola, FL as they received 7.6 inches (Jessica Chace, National Weather Service) of the stuff. What are the snowflakes that are making you cold to the core? What part of your life feels stuck or frozen? How can we break free of those glaciers that hold us down?
There’s actually a term coined just for this idea: functional freeze mode.“’ Functional freeze mode refers to a state in which you find yourself unable to undertake certain tasks or make decisions due to a mental or emotional block,’” reports Dr. Jerimya Fox, LPC of Banner Health. We can get frustrated and overwhelmed when we feel trapped and unable to move, which can lead to mistakes. It’s a stress response that differs from the common flight or fight forms. In Functional Freeze Mode, our stress makes it challenging or near impossible to do what is required in our home lives, work situations, & relationships. (Banner Health Inc., 2024)
Another way to describe this phenomenon is emotional numbness. Remember that feeling you get once that first shot of Novocain starts to dull the nerve centers in your teeth & gums? Our emotions can get flattened by the amount of stress we encounter, which is on the rise for our culture. It’s also called dissociation, which isn’t necessarily bad in & of itself, though when it becomes the only coping skill used, can lead to dangerous withdrawal & other mental health issues (Unitypoint.org, 2024).
How much has stressed increased? According to a poll by the American Psychiatric Association, the adults in the US feel increasingly anxious. For 2024, 43% of the adults in this country feel more anxious than the 37% from 2023, and the 32% reported in 2022. What do we get nervous about? Current events 70%, with the economy a whopping 77% affirming it as a source of stress. Other issues are high as well – protecting ourselves & our families 68%, protecting our identities 63%, & health issues just to name a few of the triggers. I passionately believe that the amount of information we get flooded with on a minute-by-minute basis severely increases our overall anxiousness. We are bombarded with news 24/7, 365 days a year, with so many “voices” yelling at us, it’s no wonder that we feel numb. It’s easier, though not necessarily healthier, to just avoid all those negative feelings. (Psychiatry.Org, 2024).
Complicating all of these “frozen factors” is the emotional & physical fallout from COVID 19 in 2020. Though COVID’s official “end” date was May 11, 2023, the toll of the trauma continues to ripple down through our society. That shutdown of our lives remains a collective trauma we all experienced. In addition, other factors such as weather disasters like hurricanes or wildfires, or racial injustice, or worldwide conflict, or inflation, all weigh down our spirits and decrease our coping skills.
Here's a personal example of feeling so cold inside it didn’t seem I could ever get warm again, for example the outside temps of 10° on Monday in Gatlinburg, TN. I suffer from a lung disease, Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis, which has progressed into Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF). Normally, that would mean that I would try and go for a lung transplant, however, I don’t qualify for that option, plus there are other factors that weigh against it. Most folks diagnosed with PF have a limited lifespan, on average 3-5 years after diagnosis. Additionally, I also have an Immune Deficiency, which while treatable, impacts how I feel. We learned all this 8 months ago. At first, I was completely stuck and felt there was no way to move forward. I didn’t want to live like that and after much prayer, I decided I wanted to have a life full of joy and not despair. Since then, my lungs have stabilized somewhat, not getting better nor worse. Treatment for the immune system has been ongoing & I’ve had improvements there as well. I do have some significant limitations, though no one can stop my smile, which I do often enough that I have acres of smile lines.
So, how do we “melt” those frozen places inside of us? Healthy coping skills are essential in keeping us moving forward in our lives, even if the path we walk does a zigzag or a U-turn. Here are a few self-help strategies with links to a YouTube video to explain how each is done (Unitypoint.org, 2024).
:
Mindfulness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssss7V1_eyA)
Deep Breathing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx112W4i5I0)
Progressive Relaxation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q3K-6HvQIk)
Regular Exercise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lDheJzSYeo)
Healthy Sleeping Habits (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oExkRKVkkbs)
Balanced Diet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Z27vRupBk)
Social Connections (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_yc-66b-M)
And according to the Mayo Clinic “knowing when to get help can be the most essential self-care action of all.” It’s the hot water to that frozen car door, or the brine that keeps cars from slipping on icy roads or preventing ice from forming in the first place by treating our driveways and walkways before a storm. The same can be said for preparing our hearts to weather the winter storms and ice of life. Happy skating! Give me a ring if I can help!
Sources:
https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/annual-poll-adults-express-increasing-anxiousness
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