I sent the group chat a quick check-in text since I have a longer day of classes today.
PPP Group Chat
Lydia: Long day, but I’m feeling surprisingly good! Love y’all. PSL date later today at the coffee shop?
Simone: Love that you’re having a good day! I’m always down for PSL. Love you
Lani: Kick today’s ass Lyd! Proud of you! And I’m blushing that you wanna take me out on a date…I’m in! Love y’all
I tuck my phone away, smiling, and pull out my laptop and notes right as the professor starts talking. I know I’m coming in already behind in class, but maybe I can find someone in here that I like, who’ll help me.
That means you’ve gotta be social, Lydia. Don’t be so closed off.
“Alright, class,” Dr. Helms says with a smile turned on for everybody. “Welcome back to the glamorous, totally not glamorous, Biopsychosocial Model. We’re working on stress today, how your brain thinks that midterms are dangerous lions, and a quick trip through some behavior changes.”
A few students groan, and it looks like he lives for this.
He picks up a marker and draws a triangle on the board, labeling each section of the triangle:Bio, Psycho,andSocial.In the center of the triangle, he puts a nervous-looking stick figure. “Our first vocabulary word is ‘appraisal’. Which just means that stress is not the email itself; it’s how you feel about the email. ‘This is the end,’ versus ‘This is annoying, but I can survive it.’ Our second vocabulary word is ‘allostatic load’, which is what the cost is to your body for being in constant ‘go mode’ as your default. Allostasis is good. But if you run on go 24/7, there will be a bill. And the bill will not be cheap.”
He underlines appraisal and allostasis three times, and then turns to tuck the marker behind hisear. “Okay, show of hands…how many people feel that feeling at the end of the day when they’re tired but still way too wired to sleep?”
Many hands shoot into the air. My hand does too.
“Yeah,” he says, seemingly pleased. “That’s your HPA axis having a rave party in your head. Your brain is incredible. It’s just…your brain has far more interest in keeping you alive than keeping you content all of the time.” He taps his chest. “It sends you tons of energy and adrenaline to either fight the lion or run away from it. But there’s no actual lion. Even though your group chat at 11:58 p.m. can look pretty liony to your brain.”
The soft laughter envelops the room.
“Two-minute demo,” he says. He pulls three stress balls out of his bag and tosses them to the guy in front of him. “Jaden, juggle these.”
The guy—long legs stretched out, hoodie up, half asleep—jolts, then starts to attempt to juggle. It’s chaotic, but he’s doing it, and everyone in the class is now loudly rooting for him.
“Okay,” Dr. Helms continues as Jaden struggles, pacing beside him. “One ball is school. One is work. One is family. Not terrible. Now I add in a triangle ding noise every time I say ‘notification’.” He taps a metal triangle lightly…ding. “Notification.”Ding. “Notification.”
Jaden drops one ball.
“Allostatic load,” Dr. Helms says. “The system can juggle three, maybe four. But ding long enough and something hits the floor. It doesn’t mean you ‘failed’, the system just met its limit.”
Jaden hands back the stress balls and then bows dramatically.
“Now,” he says, uncapping his marker again, “two questions we ask a lot in this class—What is loud?And what turns it down to become manageable?”
This sounds familiar…just like the ending I caught of what Bash wastalking about during recovery group the other day.
“I don’t want your miracle cures. I want your two-notch down methods. What’s loud for you this week?” he asks the class.
“Midterms,” someone says.
“Financial aid being confusing as hell,” says someone else.
“Not being able to sleep,” a girl in an oversized hoodie murmurs.
“Being stuck scrolling on social media,” a guy near the front says, not looking up from his phone.
“Okay, now what turns those down?” He points around the room with his marker like a conductor.
“A song or a long drive to cool down,” hoodie girl says.
“I put my phone in the microwave,” a guy announces.
