Anyone who knows me can tell you that my sense of physical balance is terrible. I can be standing still and suddenly be off balance. I can trip over lines in the tile floor. If I close my eyes, I lose all orientation in space, so I never know what direction I will be facing when my eyes open again. This is due to two physical factors. For one thing, my hips, knees, and toes do not align. The other part is in my brain. There is some structural issue in my cerebellum that prevents me from processing input correctly, especially if the visual is removed. When I was 12, I mentioned it to my doctor. She said, "How much does this interfere with your life?" I said that it wasn't a big problem, usually only noticeable when we prayed while standing at church. She said, "That's good because it would take brain surgery to fix it." Oh, okay, it doesn't interfere at all then.
When I started working out at the Y, it began to interfere (not enough to make me want brain surgery, but more than it used to). You can entertain yourself by watching me attempt a lunge because I look like a Picasso painting. I can't get a decent quad stretch while standing in the middle of a the studio because by the time I get balanced on one foot, it's time to switch feet.
Now, let's think beyond the physical. We are living in unstable times. Things are changing rapidly and often in more than one direction. It's hard to find a strong footing mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. Even if you are a supporter who agrees with what they are doing, you must acknowledge that the actions of this administration have moved so quickly that they have thrown some things off balance. The stock ticker alone reflects that. If it is disorienting for us as adults, imagine what it must be like for high school students getting ready to enter the work world.
Teachers, what can we do to help our students (and ourself) keep our balance.
Well, I'm going to return to the things I have learned about physical balance that can serve as metaphors because I think they'll preach.
Hold weights
This may sound counterintuitive, but I have much better balance with a 50lb weight bar on my back than I can without it. The added weight provides downward force in line with my center of gravity. Holding dumbbells in a suitcase carry can accomplish the same effect. The extra weight makes the movements my body does a smaller percentage of the whole when it comes to weight distribution.
In the same way, teaching ourselves and our students balance during difficult times may be about carrying a load. When we have work to do, there is an external force pointing in one direction. Our minds have something to focus on other than the news. It's one of the many reasons I was grateful to keep teaching during the pandemic; I had no choice but to think about other things for large parts of the day. And it did the same for my students. We provided a continued understanding that big things still mattered and that the pandemic wasn't the only thing happening. The time I got into a real head spin about the things that are happening right now was on a snow day. Without work to do or recreational activities to engage in, I was left to ruminate on thoughts while doomscrolling.
If you find you are spiraling, give yourself a responsibility, a project, and activity - and make it large enough to provide the force you need to get out of your own head and keep your balance.
Touch something
I don't know if you have ever considered how weird it is that we walk on two feet. You probably haven't because you aren't as weird as I am. But it is worth noticing that we are the only species (besides non-flight birds) that use bipedal walking as a primary form of movement? I'm not saying nothing else can walk on two legs, but they do it for short periods and then drop back down to four for actual travel. My cat will get on his back legs to swat at something with his front paws, but he doesn't walk to the kitchen that way.
Why? Because bipedal motion is inherently unstable. Most animals keep three points of contact with the ground most of the time (exceptions when running fast or for defensive reasons, but for most regular activity, they keep a tripod on the ground). Keeping three points of contact means that if the center of gravity shifts a bit, it is still supported.
We stand on two legs, which means there is a much narrower range to how far our center of gravity can move before we lose our balance. Then, we pick our foot up, shifting all of our weight to one foot and make ourselves fall forward! The other foot comes down to support our shifting center of gravity and just as soon as it does, we repeat the process with the other foot. How are we not falling down multiple times a day? We aren't. We walk without even thinking about it. If you aren't amazed by that, adjust your sense of awe. Even atheist researcher Steven Pinker, in his book How the Mind Works, calls it miraculous.
This is one of the reasons I can't get a decent quad stretch in some of my classes, there is nothing to provide a point of balance when I raise my foot. I can do it in cycle because I hold tightly to the handlebars.
In the same way, having more points of contact will help with emotional stability in unstable times. Have trusted friends or family that you can spend time with. They will keep it from being just you leaning in one direction or another, recentering you and providing balance. Notice, I said that these need to be trusted people. Unstable people will not stabilize each other.
Look at a stationary object
