“Courage is grace under pressure.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)

Where across the course of your day today, could you consider where it might be that you write a list of all the things that are under your control, for which you could have a first aid response?

I spent today in the city taking a St. John’s First Aid Course as a requirement of my outdoor trainer’s permit, for my mind and body Bootcamp, BOSSFIT.

A first aid course isn’t about trauma; it’s about preparedness.

It’s about being calm under pressure, and it’s about knowing what to do in the first 60 seconds when everyone else freezes.

I have been doing a one-day first aid course every 3 years for the last 20 years. Each time I attend, I am surprised by how much the protocols for some first aid responses have changed.

Today I learned there is an app called Emergency Plus, which, when you call 000, you give them the unique three words that the app tells you are your location, so that there can be no confusion as to where you are, longitudinally and latitudinally.

In an emergency, location is life. The more precisely you can communicate where you are, the faster help can reach you. And in critical care, minutes are not just minutes.

In the course, they repeated that no matter what happened, you practice the DRSABCD protocol.

Check for Danger, Responsiveness, Send for help, Airways cleared, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillation.

Many people wait for someone else to fix their lives, but in your own nervous system, you are the first responder.

Before the therapist, before the lawyer, before the expected apology from your partner, and even before the coach.

When your heart is racing, when your relationship is bleeding or when your business feels like it’s flatlining, you don’t need a philosophy; you need a protocol.

Physiology is psychology; DRSABCD is simply regulated leadership under pressure.

Here’s a life version you can use immediately.

DRSABCD:

D: Danger - What is actually unsafe right now?

Is there real danger?
Or just perceived threat?

Is this about reputation? rejection? ego? financial fear? abandonment trigger?

Ask:
Is this a sabre-toothed tiger… or just discomfort?

R: Response - Am I conscious or reactive?

Are you present? Or, are you in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn?

Before you speak, check yourself. Heart rate, breathing, tension.
If you are dysregulated, you are not responding; you are reacting.

S: Send for Help - Who do I call before I self-sabotage?

Pride isolates people; strength recruits allies.

This might be: Your coach, your training partner, your mentor, your sibling, your journal.

Don’t wait until you’re emotionally bleeding out to reach out.

A: Airway - Can I breathe properly right now?

Shallow chest breathing equals shallow thinking.

Slow nasal breathing, long exhale, relax your shoulders.

You cannot regulate your life if you can’t regulate your breath.

Airway first; always.

B: Breathing - Am I steady or am I spiralling?

Look at your rhythm. Is it fast, forced? Do you find yourself exhaling forcefully or sighing more often than not, or even holding your breath?

In crisis, the calmest nervous system wins.

Control your breath, and you control the outcome.

C: CPR - What consistent rhythm brings me back?

CPR is repetition.

In life, CPR is: Consistent routines, consistent sleep, consistent training, consistent boundaries and consistent standards.

Resuscitation isn’t dramatic; it’s a disciplined rhythm.

D: Defibrillation - What shock do I need to reset?

Sometimes you need a jolt.

A hard conversation, a new plan, a cold plunge, a bold decision, a clean break; a new standard.

Not to punish; to reset.

Here’s the thing: When life hits, you won’t rise to your intentions; you’ll fall to your training.

DRSABCD isn’t just first aid, it’s self-leadership under pressure.

The confident ability to assess, regulate, stabilise and act is all a method of preparedness.

You don’t learn CPR while someone is dying; you learn it when everything is calm.

You don’t build character during a crisis; you reveal it.

The work is done before the moment.

In crisis first aid, when someone is breathing but unconscious, you don’t shake them, you don’t lecture them, and you don’t panic.

You place them in the recovery position, and you monitor.

Life will test you without warning. The question isn’t whether you’ll face an emergency; the question is whether you’ve trained your nervous system before it arrives.

While you’re thinking about that, think about this and have a Gr8 day!

Be well,
DL

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)