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strengthing families from within POWERED BY FOUR BARREL FITNESS
By Adam & Kristin Kleinert
Stressed Out
Y ou’ ve read about how busy is our family, and, if you’ re feeling that hustle and bustle is a recurring theme in our household, you’ re spot on.
It’ s a way of life for us and it’ s not slowing down anytime soon. We work at streamlining the stress when we can but, admittedly, we often become overwhelmed. This month, FamFitter begins a short series acknowledging the effects stress can have on family mental health and, more specifically, exploring proactive ways to help alleviate pressures and positively cope.
Stress affects each member of our clan a bit differently. Among us are criers, yellers, shutterdowners and lasher-outers. We’ re individuals with separate triggers, so, when exploring healthy ways to manage, we wanted to address individual needs. Adversely, we are always in search of a approaches that are as comprehensive as possible, because it makes implementation much less complicated.
We decided to do a bit of research and ask the advice of a couple of locally-based experts. This month, we chose to focus on the concept of visualization.
Our Family Stress Dynamic
We don’ t hate being busy. We admit we made our lives into this hectic little jumble, and we honestly enjoy most every facet of our lifestyle. Still, with two full-time jobs, serving on community boards and committees, church activities, school functions, volunteer obligations and all of the numerous tasks that go into raising four additionally-busy young humans, Mom and Dad are overwhelmed more often than we want to admit. And we’ re not the most gracefully-stressed parents on the planet. In our household, short tempers do flare from time to time. Anxieties become a little too-close to sheer, unnecessary panic( Mom) and stresses can manifest into moody passiveaggression( Dad).
Our two oldest children, 15 and almost 13, are no strangers to pressure. Because they both are involved in school sports, student government and are conscientious with academics, their
personal stress levels are often significant. Syd becomes overwhelmed and moody. Eli tends to be a bundle of nerves and has trouble keeping his thoughts focused. Both experience anxiety that sometimes hinders them at school and sports, and often affects their ability to get a good night’ s sleep.
Our younger two are a bit more sheltered from personal stresses, although most recently our 9-year-old has been struggling at school, and those struggles have led to meltdowns and even shutdowns.
As a whole, we all often experience lack of focus and sometimes, an inability to relax. Of course, personal stress in a household of six( or any household, for that matter) creates webs of stress in which other members inevitably become entangled. We’ re no exception; most times, if one of us is exhibiting signs of being overwhelmed, the others are affected.
Exploring Visualization
We’ ve read a bit about the benefits of visualization as it relates to many of the areas in which we struggle. On a quest to learn more about it, we spoke with Dr. Randy Schrodt of Integrative Psychiatry, who has worked with a wide range of individuals, including adolescents and athletes. The Louisville-based( but nationallyand internationally-renowned) psychiatrist said,“ Visualization can be a useful tool for adults and adolescents alike. Desired outcomes range from improved sports and academic performance to
AMONG US ARE CRIERS, YELLERS, SHUTTER-DOWNERS AND LASHER-OUTERS.
increased concentration and self-discipline. And it doesn’ t stop there.”
Dr. Schrodt explained that practicing visualization not only helps to create a mental picture, but can also condition one’ s mind and allow the individual to achieve and remain“ in the zone” when participating in a task or experience. While the role of visualization varies from person to person, the benefits can be vast. Say a student athlete is utilizing the practice of visualization in order to stay focused while testing as well as on the ball field. By training his / her brain in these areas, that same student is also likely to experience improvement in other areas as well.
“ Ultimately, visualization allows the individual the improved ability to remain‘ in the zone’ and this concept then increases their ability to relax
40 EXTOL SPORTS / JANUARY 2018