I intended to watch the United States election coverage today, but quickly felt myself becoming overwhelmed by it.
It doesn’t really make a huge difference to us here in Australia (I hope), but it was wall to wall coverage everywhere.
I started to do something else – but quickly became overwhelmed by that too!
Suddenly a simple transaction I’ve done many times had become super complicated.
I now need an authenticator.
I’m fairly tech savvy but this darn thing just didn’t want to work for me.
Unable to find a phone number to get help, I ended up chatting to a bot who directed me to instructions on how to make it work.
But I couldn’t get to the same point where it showed I had to click on ‘allow’.
After talking to another bot I eventually got there.
It took me an hour and a half to do something that would usually take five minutes (if that).
I’m all for cyber security – especially when it comes to banking – but this was just too hard.
There may have been a few tears.
Technology can make you feel powerful, knowledgeable and capable.
But it can also make you feel stupid, confused and vulnerable.
I found myself so overwhelmed, I had to take myself away from everything – find a quiet space and do some cyclic sighing.
It’s a fairly simple technique:
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Take another little ‘sip’ of breath to deepen into your lungs.
Then slowly and audibly sigh it out through your mouth.
Essentially the out breath should be long and slow.
Repeat for about five minutes.
Most people think the inhale is the one that calms us, but it’s actually the out breath – and the sensation of letting go and release.
This triggers the parasympathetic nervous system – the rest and digest response – that relaxes and soothes us more.
So next time you feel overwhelmed or defeated by technology, or in my case today both…
Breathe…
Ann 🙏