02 🦙⚓Taming the Drama Llama – Flipping the Struggle Switch
Last week, we introduced our old friend, the Drama Llama. We talked about how that problem-solving, analytical left brain of ours is beautifully designed to keep us safe throughout the day by answering simple questions like, “What am I going to wear today?” or “What’s for breakfast?”
But what happens when life throws us big, heavy stress? Problems that don’t have an immediate, simple solution? That’s when the Drama Llama kicks into overdrive. Today, I want to talk about exactly how the Drama Llama creates anxiety and a little hidden mechanism inside your mind called the “Struggle Switch.”
The Struggle Switch
You see, when we experience an uncomfortable thought or feeling—like a tight chest, a fluttering stomach, or a sudden wave of worry about the future—the Drama Llama immediately panics. It views that discomfort as a threat to our safety.
So, it starts pacing up and down in your mind, firing off a million questions:
- “Why am I feeling this way?”
- “What if this feeling never goes away?”
- “What if I fail that meeting tomorrow?”
- “What if I’m getting sick?”
Often, it’s a hundred and one “what-ifs” all at once. Now, having a nervous system that scans for danger is completely normal. But here is where we get stuck: we don’t just have anxiety; we start getting anxious about the anxiety. We start getting angry that we’re angry, or sad that we’re feeling down.
And this is called the Struggle Switch.
Imagine there is a literal switch inside your mind. When something uncomfortable happens and your Struggle Switch is turned ON, you say, “I don’t want this! I shouldn’t be feeling this way!” You fight the anxiety. You try to analyze it, suppress it, or run away from it.
But guess what? The more you struggle with that quicksand, the deeper you sink, and the worse the anxiety gets. The Drama Llama grows into a giant monster consuming your day. And of course, remember, it’s just designed to keep us safe. It’s trying to find solutions to everything, but it doesn’t know when to stop.
How to Tame the Drama Llama
So, how do we tame the Drama Llama when anxiety strikes? We have to flip the Struggle Switch OFF.
Flipping the switch off doesn’t mean your anxiety magically disappears into thin air. It means you look at that uncomfortable feeling or thought and say, “Here is anxiety. I don’t particularly want it, and I don’t like it, but I’m not going to struggle with it right now.”
You stop trying to fix a feeling that doesn’t need fixing. You allow it to just be there in the background, like a noisy radio in another room, while you get on with your life.
The ACE Strategy: Putting It Into Action
How do we actually do that in real life when the Drama Llama is whispering “what-ifs” in your ear every moment of the day? We use the ACE strategy we talked about last week:
- A – Awareness: Notice the thought. Call it out. “Ah, there’s the Drama Llama telling me that ‘I’m going to fail’ story again,” or you say to yourself, “I notice I’m having an anxious thought.” What we’re doing here is developing that observer side of ourselves—the “Noticeer.” We all have it, but it needs exercising, and doing something like ACE helps us develop it.
- C – Connect with your body: “Drop anchor,” as we say. Drop your shoulders, wriggle your toes, take a slow, deep breath, and feel your feet flat on the floor. Bring your awareness out of the chaotic future and back into your physical body. It’s a good way to bring you back to right here, right now.
- E – Engage with the world: Since you are back here, you are more aware of the world around you. So, make the most of it. Look around you. Have a look at whatever you can see right now. Perhaps look at what the weather’s doing. What can you see, hear, or touch right now?
By doing this, you aren’t fighting the Drama Llama. You’re just taking your hands off the steering wheel of the struggle and letting the anxiety “ride shotgun.” Instead, you’re choosing to focus your energy on what is in your best interest right here, right now.
Ready to Learn More?
If you want to see a visual map of what the Struggle Switch looks like when it’s turned on versus turned off, I have a great illustration of it right inside my book.
Remember my eBook, where you can download your completely free copy of my ebook, Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life. It’s a practical, down-to-earth guide full of useful, evidence-based information and techniques designed specifically for busy people who just want to find a bit of calm amidst the chaos.
See you next week, and learn to tame your Drama Llama.