In a conversation with the members of this community, we discussed situations where we were encountering new environments. From our personal experiences, we came up with a series of recommendations for strategies that we might suggest to our colleagues and students to help feel more comfortable and competent in dealing with novel situations.
Strategies for Coping:
- Find pockets of familiarity
- Be fully mindful of feeling "different". In other words, notice the feeling and embrace it.
- Be open to the experience you are having and see the novelty as something to observe and perhaps enjoy. Be willing to enter into the novel experience or situation.
- Have a purpose. In other words, create your own familiarity in having something that you need to do or achieve so that you can create a sense of belonging for yourself.
- Change the feeling of isolation to one of observation. Feel a sense of grace to support you in the situation.
- Have time for reflection or processing the experience with others. In other words, don't keep the feelings or the experience to yourself. In sharing it, you come to understand it better. Remember the experience so you can implement what you learned or use your observations in your daily life.
- Notice and rejoice in kindness.
- Recognize when you have hit a "cognitive wall", or when you are too overwhelmed to take in any more novelty. Take a break, and try again when you are feeling stronger.
- Have grit and perseverance..
As a host to someone who is coming to a novel situation:
- Remember to be welcoming, not just polite.
- Check in with the newcomer and really listen to their response.
- Make hidden expectations clear so the newcomer doesn't have to guess.
- Offer examples from our own lives of coping (demonstrate empathy)
- Be careful not to make analogies and give examples that may not be meaningful.
- Clarify the common task.
- Cultivate peer support.