Sam Gash: 5 simple tips for coping with change

As an endurance athlete and social entrepreneur, AIA Vitality Ambassador Sam Gash is no stranger to dealing with life’s little (and large) curveballs. Here are some of her best tips for coping with change on a pandemic-sized scale. 

Any amount of change can be unsettling. And with the whole world currently working through some of the biggest changes we’ve experienced in decades, it’s perfectly normal for you to be feeling pretty worried and anxious about it all.

In fact, if you strip it all back, it’s quite likely that it’s the change, rather than coronavirus itself, that’s the real root of your anxiety right now. And if we’re not cognisant of it, and if we don’t try and deal with that change, it can manifest in some pretty unhealthy physical and mental habits.

Now, I’ve spent a bit of time in challenging environments. As a professional endurance athlete, I’ve run ultramarathons through India (twice!), the Simpson Desert, and South Africa. One of those India expeditions took 77 days, and saw me run over 3,200 kilometres as a World Vision Ambassador.

It wasn’t easy, and it taught me that change can come in many forms. But whether you’re dealing with smaller, daily changes to your environment or body – like you might on an endurance expedition – or massive, society-shifting changes, like we are right now, there are certainly some tricks we can employ to help. Here’s a little list of what I’ve learned so far: 

In just a few weeks, our world has changed so much in terms of our environmental structure, our proximity to the people we love, our work and financial lives – almost everything you can think of. So we need to be kind to ourselves, and give ourselves a period of grace that enables us to get used to this change. We can’t just plough ahead as if nothing’s wrong.

It’s highly likely that you’re more emotional than usual right now – and that might manifest in you being a bit more volatile, or having a shorter fuse, or lashing out at your partner. A big part of being kind to yourself is allowing yourself space and time to properly process whatever emotions arise in you. Just stopping and taking stock of where you’re at and how you feel, can go a long way towards helping you move forward. 

It really doesn’t have to be much. For me, when I wake up in the morning, I try not to grab my phone and check the news or social media. Instead, I’ll make a cup of tea and try and structure my day. I’ll look at everything I need to do that day, and try and block off the beginning of the day, when I’m more rested, for the hardest tasks. That way, no matter what the day throws at me, I’ve hopefully got some runs on the board early.

It’s also so important to move. It doesn’t matter what it is – just 20 minutes a day, some push ups, a big walk around the block, jumping jacks with the kids. Getting those endorphins going will have such a huge impact on your mood and help reduce stress. Don’t ever underestimate the importance of moving! 

Funnily enough, dealing with all of this change and uncertainty can weigh pretty heavily on our subconscious. Whether we’re worrying about loved ones, or our jobs, or stressing about the kids being off school – we may not feel it all the time, but it’s there, sapping our energy.

Because of this, it’s important to re-calibrate our output expectations for any given day. Put simply, where we might be used to getting 10 things done in a day, maybe it’s more about getting three or four tasks done. Maybe less, maybe more. It’s about shifting our expectations to work with this new normal, and not trying to force our old expectations into it – because they won’t fit!

At the moment, our goal posts are constantly changing. So there’s no use on planning too far ahead or focusing on some end goal or date – because it could change in a flash. It can be tempting to get planning to give yourself something to look forward to, but I think it’s imperative that we just take one day at a time. It’s definitely wise to have goals, but at this time I think it’s more about keeping those goals realistic, and giving ourselves daily goals to focus on. 

I think when we all learned that we’d be spending more time at home, everyone thought, “I’ve got to do something amazing with this time!” Now, I think we’re all realising that actually, we need to chill, and just reset, and spend time with family if we can.

I have a son and I usually travel a lot for work. So one thing I’m trying to do right now is remind myself that I may never get this abundance of time, which I can spend with my son and husband, back again. I’m really trying to find the blessings of this period. With any luck, we may even be able to take some of those blessings and new discoveries back into ‘regular’ life with us when things start getting back to normal. 

Samantha Gash is an Australian endurance athlete, inspirational speaker, author, social impact entrepreneur and mother. In 2010, she made history by becoming the youngest person and first woman in the world to complete the 4 Deserts Grand Slam ultramarathon event. She has since run numerous ultra- events around the world, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity in the process. She is passionate about using her expeditions as a vehicle for driving social change. 

Disclaimer:
The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as financial, medical, health, nutritional, tax or other advice. It does not take into account any individual’s personal situation or needs. You should consider obtaining professional advice from a financial adviser and/or tax specialist, or medical or health practitioner, in relation to your own circumstances and before acting on this information.