Why is Compartmentalizing So Helpful?

What happens when-

You’ve done everything right. You’ve been invited to speak at a conference, an important one. For over a month, you’ve prepared. Every slide refined. Every word rehearsed. You’ve stood in the auditorium, practiced with the microphone, walked the stage until it felt familiar. By now, you feel ready physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The morning arrives.

It's 8:45am. The presentation is at 10. You're dressed in the outfit you've planned, breakfast is done, coffee in hand, you're out the door, on time and focused. You're arrive at the venue. Slides are checked, microphone is checked, you exhale, you're ready!

Suddenly, the phone rings-

It's your partner telling you that you're son or daughter had an emergency an is in the hospital.

NOW????

Your mind races. Do you drop everything and run? Do you stay and try to laser-focus on your presentation? What do you do?

Your partner reassures you. They’re with your child. The doctors are there. Your child is stable. Go do the presentation, they say. Come to the hospital afterward.

But how—how—do you possibly stand on a stage and speak with confidence when your child is in a hospital bed?

Here's what you know-

Your child is in good hands with your partner, and nothing will change in the next two hours. You make a decision to continue with your presentation. The question is how do you let go of your focus on your child, without letting go of your love, your fear, or your concern, and refocus on your presentation?

You compartmentalize.

Not by pretending everything is fine. Not by telling yourself to forget. Not by burying the fear or pushing it away.

Instead, you acknowledge it.You tell yourself: I know my child is okay right now.

Then you do something very specific.

You mentally place this situation in a box-right over there.(Physically pointing to a spot can help.) You tell yourself: I’m putting this on hold over here for 90 minutes. I will come back to it. And that’s okay.

It's important to acknowledge that this isn’t denial, this isn’t repression, this is intentional handling. You are choosing when to deal with it knowing with certainty that you will.

Your brain can do that.

It's go time! You redirect your focus to your presentation. You say your mantra to yourself "This is where I shine" (insert your own mantra). You set your intention for the first moment so you're focused on your audience, and you go knock it out of the park!

Then, you go see your child :)