With the ever-changing legal requirements brought about due to COVID, we might feel like yachts, swirling around on the waves. It’s a challenge to stay focused, let alone manage the swathe of changes we’re enduring.

So, what can we do to help us adapt our mindset?

I’m lucky, due to having cerebral palsy – I’ve had a lifestyle of having to adapt. I have a narrative in my head, reminding me how to walk, watch the uneven pavement, balance, etc. Actually, it’s tedious, because I can’t switch off my helpful inner voice. It’s present at every mundane bodily movement.

I used to hate it.

If I were to describe it: think of when you were young, counting whilst playing hide-and-seek. You were likely talking quietly under your breath, as opposed to silently in your head. My words are not quiet!

But then, it dawned on me that because I have to talk to myself, I have a conscious awareness about every aspect of my day. I am providing commentary and working on a daily basis to a useful blue-print. To an able-bodied person, it’s like keeping a spare car key in your pocket.

Over the years I’ve made great friends with my helpful inner voice, my invisible guide-dog. I exploit it though. I give it every worry that flings itself at my brain and talk the matter through with myself, aloud, until I eventually adapt my thinking. I spin every problem around in my minds-eye until I can see the benefits of a new perspective. As an example, I’ve lost clients and didn’t want to pay my tax bill in one go. Rather than burdening my head and giving myself unnecessary worry, I talked it through in this conscious way and remembered the instalment payment options.

Because our heads are addled, we may be more forgetful than usual. This technique of mine is helpful here too, as by talking to yourself you can remind yourself to do things, such as making a note, or grabbing something out of the freezer in time.

Whilst it’s hard to adapt, talking to yourself can help you to avoid a fuzzy head, or help you to be able to enjoy more clear-thinking time and feel as though there is less debris in your brain.

The trick with adapting is truly a shift in mindset, but our heads are cloudy – we are tired, or numb. So fundamentally, by using our conscious mind as opposed to functioning on auto-pilot, we are keeping our brains alert and switched on. We are creating the ideal state of mind to grow our outlook, think more creatively, troubleshoot, face problems more informed, and learn to live more adaptable lives.