Unlocking Confidence: Helping Students Conquer the Dreaded Combination Lock and Anxiety
As a middle school principal, I used to ask incoming sixth-grade students what caused them the most stress. Our sixth-grade students were new to the building. Overwhelmingly, the combination lock was always at the top of the stress-causing list.
Imagine standing in a school hallway in front of a combination lock on your assigned locker. This may not cause stress if you have experienced opening combination locks, but for many students, this was their first encounter with the dreaded lock.
You are standing in front of a piece of technology you have never used, among other students. Do you remember how it felt to be embarrassed in front of your peers? What if you are the only person who can’t open the lock? Stress! It’s a horrible feeling for most young people.
In my book Mentor Them or They Will, I reference how the brain works. Stress significantly impairs higher-order thinking skills. When under stress, the amygdala, a small almond-shaped organ in our brain, drives us into a fight-or-flight state of mind. The amygdala causes the feeling of anxiety and stress even before standing in front of the dreaded lock.
Teach youth how to deal with stress and anxiety. First, we must share that stress and anxiety are natural parts of life. A person's body initiates the instinctual fight-or-flight response. Instinct is a good thing. It keeps us alive.
However, instinct is not the only important part of dealing with the dreaded lock. To decrease stress and increase confidence, a person should be proactive and prepare for the stressful situation. Practice opening combination locks before facing a locker combination lock in the hallway.
The practice part might be challenging if you have no lock outside school. It is also a challenge if you do not have someone to teach you how to open the lock. However, stress will be lower during the planning process. You will be able to think critically about overcoming these two barriers.
Schools will lend combination locks to families so that they can practice opening the lock before school starts. If family members do not have experience opening combination locks, school officials will help teach the fundamentals of lock opening.
Learn from your sixth-grade stressful situations. How did you overcome those challenges? Even though it may have been long ago for many of us, reflecting on our experiences will help us teach youth how to navigate stressful situations. Stresses will never go away.
We will encounter challenges and stress as long as we live, so we must understand how to deal with them. Instinct and training will help us overcome challenges like the dreaded combination lock.
Martial arts perspective:
Martial arts training is a perfect experience for learning how to overcome stressful situations. We know instinct is a natural part of life, but preparing for stressful situations should also be natural. As martial artists, we practice under stress and learn what works and what does not work. Therefore, when a challenge happens, we are better prepared than those who have never trained.
Questions:
How would you prove that training and preparation will improve the outcome of a challenging and stressful situation?
Think of an upcoming situation that could be stressful. What proactive steps will help you decrease stress and improve performance?
Create a graphic organizer to show how to overcome the stress associated with the dreaded combination lock.
Research what happens to a person’s body in a fight-or-flight situation.
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