Today’s post is something that has been happening to me lately. Regression. Have you ever had that feeling that for every step forward something else pushes you two feet back. Well you are not alone. It happens to everyone, it’s basically guaranteed to happen to everyone.
So what do I mean by regression? In simple terms it means a task you used to be able to complete with ease becomes harder or even undo-able. For example let’s say there is a person with a mobility issue. Normally they would walk 1 km everyday without needing a break. Then comes a day where at the 900 m mark they are exhausted and just have to stop. Now is this regression? Well, hard to say. Maybe this was a bad day, maybe other factors were at play, who knows. But if this continues day after day for a prolonged period of time. Well now we are moving into the territory of regression.
What causes regression? There are tons of reasons it could be depending on the person. Maybe you have a disease like Parkinson’s where it’s symptoms get worse over time, or maybe its old age, but sometimes there may not be a reason.
Now before we start panicking, let’s do some detective work before jumping to conclusions. As I said earlier everyone has bad days. If it only happens a few times, No sweat, you are not a robot. Everyone falters and that’s ok. It is also common to stress about losing capacity to do things tied with your independence. This negative thought process can cause a downward spiral. To avoid that, take a break and try again later. Also, be kind to yourself and accept if you are worried, scared or frustrated. That is normal! I find talking to myself in the 3rd person is a good way to give yourself a pep talk and avoid the downward spiral. Saying things like “Hey [insert your name] that was a good effort”, “[insert your name] you just had a bad day today”, “I know [insert your name] you are frustrated, but I love you and we can work on this together”. It might feel really strange to talk to yourself in this manner but most people are much kinder to others than to themselves. Talking to yourself in the 3rd person is a good way to trick the brain into practicing self love.
Now you try doing this for a while and no luck you are definitely worse than before. It still might not be regression. For any task be it physical, mental or emotional there are factors that come into play that affect your performance. I like to first check the basics. Am I eating well, sleeping well, exercising regularly, connecting with friends, scheduling time to relax/enjoy? If you are not taking care of yourself, of course you are not going to get the same performance.
Another explanation is are you actually doing the same task? Let’s take the walking example again. Doing that 1 km walk on a nice sunny day in Vancouver is a lot easier than 1 km in Edmonton in the winter. Now that was an extreme example but seriously sometimes you are doing either more work, more complex work or even your environment has changed making the same task more different to complete. After checking all of that you might be dealing with regression. Next week we will talk about how to handle regression and adapting your life around that.