4 Ways to Maintain Emotional Strength & Control
/4 Ways to Maintain Emotional Strength & Control
By: Joe Hammond
So your shift just started after a long weekend and you’re in your patrol vehicle prepared for the day. Prior to hitting the streets, roll call was the usual mixed bag. Patrol safety information and crime updates, the usual jokes from the jokesters and the usual grunts from the complainers. Not much change. While driving along to acquire your favorite beverage and road snacks you get a phone call from your significant other stating unhappiness in the relationship and telling you they’re considering separation. Immediately, the radio crackles dispatching you to a domestic violence incident in progress between a man and a woman with unknown weapons. Not only are you now nervous, saddened and disappointed about home, but you’re on your way to one of the more dangerous jobs that cops face today. How exactly do you remain tactically aware and emotionally strong with your head going in several directions? And of course, having to disconnect the phone call at that point because of the radio call doesn’t help matters at all. It only comes across as “you don’t care as much about the problems at home.” I mean sure, part of you knew there were problems at home, but never did you expect this. You just figured you’d be able to clean up the matter with a few good times and maybe a vacation together.
Without being a person who practices emotional strength and control (ES&C) on a regular basis, this radio call can quickly spiral out of control, right? For example, you, as the police officer who lacks ES&C in this particular situation can fail to identify a threat which puts you and your co-workers in danger and you may rush a disposition in an effort to get back to your personal matters or you may suffer from a lack of clear judgment which may cause you to misidentify the aggressor and the victim.
What are some ways that you can practice daily emotional strength & control and which ones would apply to this particular situation?
A few ways a person can strengthen their ability to remain emotionally strong is by having good daily habits. An example is a habit such as rising early before the rest of the world. Another is having a good spiritual, meditational or recreational life, and practicing remaining calm in the midst of adversity. You can also learn not to maximize the minimal in life. Not everything needs to be reacted to immediately, and sometimes the best answer to a heated situation is to step back and allow the moment to have its space before reacting. Here are a few emotional strengths that can apply to the above listed radio call.
1. Resiliency: People who are emotionally strong through resiliency are less discouraged by setbacks and disappointments. They are also able to recover more quickly from emotional wounds such as rejection.
2. Clear Thinking: People who are emotionally strong through clear thinking focus on overcoming the obstacle by visualizing the end process rather than spending too much time focusing on the “Spilled Milk.”
3. Positive Reflection: This usually comes from past experiences where certain obstacles in life appeared to be insurmountable. Through positive reflection of the pains and lessons related to the past, one can recall that everything turned out a lot better than initially anticipated.
4. Adaptation: Adapting and overcoming is one of the oldest practices in police work. When you’ve worked in this field long enough, you realize that not everything is always what it seems. Police work constantly throws curveballs which need to be hit. Practicing the ability to adapt to different situations will help you become more flexible as a person and not completely floored by change or bad news.
Emotional strength and control can be summed up in many different words and/or phrases, and I encourage you to look them up in order to begin developing some of the less obvious. After all, at the end of the day, polished emotional strength can benefit you both on “AND” off the job.
