Ground Control to Major Tom

Stress is so common to most of us that we rarely see the triggers or the patterns that are left in the wake. How does stress have anything to do with the picture of three astronauts?

Mission: : a pre-established and often self-imposed objective or purpose.

Plan: an orderly arrangement of parts of an overall design or objective.

How many times do we find ourselves so stressed and wonder why we are so stressed. I think that stress is a mismatch of sorts, between what our plan was and what actually occurs. We may go to work and have a preconceived idea that the day will be within the limits of what we would consider a good day. We then get a phone call from hell, our co-workers problems become our problems, the boss is in a bad mood and takes it out on you, or just doesn't treat us with the respect that we thought our day pre-destined. You can almost feel the stress from these descriptions alone. Job loss, health problems, financial problems...etc. So what happens during this preconceived outcome and the actual outcome? Your central nervous system reacted and automatically. Our bodies are an incredibly complex system focused on self-preservation. How could we not plan for a problem free day? It is pure fantasy to believe that our lives will be without trials and surprises. When we encounter a surprise, whether a large dog barking and bearing down on you, a sudden financial crisis, a relationship difficulty or a job loss, we have this release of epinephrine, norepinephrine and other potent chemicals. We know this response as, "fight or flight." and if you have experienced this, you know well the feelings both during and after the release of adrenaline. During the crisis, we have unbelievable strength and focus...unfortunately, after the adrenaline is depleted, we feel washed out, shaking, nauseous or faint. The response to crisis is brief, but long enough to either confront the danger or to flee from it. But what about a prolonged level of unexpected crisis or even potential crisis? What about the chronic low level stresses that we face all the time? We still have the same response, but to a lesser extend and the recovery is quicker as well. The long-term effects of chronic low level stress is fatigue, poor focus, depression and anxiety. We may not anticipate a wild dog attack every day, but we do get accustomed to these low level stresses to the point that they become accustomed and even expected. This is where we just feel defeated. Why are we surprised when life and the people within our lives are unfair or exhibit randomly confusing acts? Because we have expectations. The expectations that life is fair, people are fair and bad things won't happen, is a very optimistic premise, but unfortunately a naive one.

The example of the Apollo 11 flight is a good example of planning and being mission oriented. The astronauts, like soldiers, pilots etc. plan for events to go horribly wrong and because of this planning, they are not surprised or especially stressed when that time comes...and statistically it will come.

The following is a small part of the transcript conversations between Mission Control and Neil Armstrong Commander of the Lunar Lander (Eagle) Upon reading their words, you may feel like this was just a, "day at the office." The reality is that it was almost the tragic loss of two American heros.

Early space flight utilized the best in computer systems available in 1969. No where near the technology that most of us have today in our cell phones. Neil Armstrong, Commander of the mission and "Buzz" Aldrin, were assigned a task that was never performed before and one that in the 60's "space race," with the Soviet Union, was being watched by everyone in the civilized world! As the Lunar Module was approaching the Moon, the computer systems began to be overloaded with incoming data and crashed! Yes, the computers began to alert with codes of failing systems. Aldrin monitored fuel remaining and Armstrong steered the landing craft toward an alien landscape that was plotted, but ultimately Armstrong had to decide where to land the drifting craft and fast! Upon landing, the landing module had only 15 seconds of fuel remaining. This was later found to be an instrument error secondary to the computer crash, but as they approached it must have taken reflexive movement and calmness to maintain composure and to defeat the internal self-preservation response that most of us would have experienced. The following transcript was the actual text of that landing:

CDR Forward drift?

' (EAGLE)

LMP Yes.

· _ (EAGLE )

LMP Okay.

(EAGLE )

CONTACT LIGHT.

LMP ACA - out of DETENT.

: ( EAGLE)

CDR Out of DETENT.

LMP MODE CONTROL both AUTO. i_E_CENT · '_'-COMMAND

OVERRIDE - OFF. ENGINE ARM - OFF.

LMP 413 is in.

CC We copy you down, Eagle.

CDR Houston, Tranquility Base here.

CDR THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.

CC Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground.

You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.

We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

CDR Thank you.

(TRANQ)

CC You' re looking good here.

CDR Okay. We're going to be busy for a minute.

I would have been busy too! Changing my flight suit! It's interesting that the team on the ground was having a greater physiological response than the astronauts. After making a seat of the pants landing, a landing by the way that if to short of an approach or too long of an approach or simple a landing in the wrong place...would have meant sudden DEATH! That is extreme focus and planning, most importantly execution of the mission.

OK, the Lunar Module is on the Moon, Armstrong begins to prepare to be the first man to ever conduct a space walk. Can you imagine that? No one knew what would happen! Would he touch the surface and die? Would he take a few steps on the Moon and get killed by a large lunatic (sorry) he didn't know, we didn't know. The two Astronauts actually had Communion that was prepared on Earth by Aldrin's Priest. They couldn't talk openly about it then because there had recently been an atheist pushing for a ban on religious views in governmental programs, but the two space walkers thought enough about the potential dangers they were about to face, to consider absolution. There was a mission and a plan and each step was met without fear or even obvious anxiety regarding the next step. The Astronauts knew that in testing, the vehicle they were in failed 50% of the time, when attempting to separate and return them to orbit to dock with their circling ride home. They knew right then and there that even after landing, walking on the moon, collecting space rocks, planting the American flag...they had a 50-50 chance of dying a slow death right there on the moon! Can you imagine conducting your day to day missions if you knew that half the time you were at risk of not making it home? The Astronauts were not only brave, but so mission focused that they seemingly did not think of the past or future, only the present. It's not that they weren't concerned with potential outcomes, they just couldn't control them and knew that they had prepared as much as possible and had no control of the other factors.

This isn't to suggest that we think of the worst and prepare for it to happen, just that we anticipate that events may happen and try to accept that we are doing everything possible to prepare and after that we can do no more.

OK, moon walk complete...check. Time to go back into orbit...oops! "Uh...hey Neil...I guess in all the excitement I must have bumped the switch and it broke off." Buzz may have said. "That's OK Buzz...which switch is that?" Neil may have asked calmly. "Oh, just the one that lights the jets that get us off the Moon." Buzz answers. "Oh, that's OK buddy...I kinda like it here anyway and who needs Oxygen when you have a view like this." Neil certainly didn't say. Aldrin broke the switch that would jettison the module back into orbit to dock with the capsule that would take them home! That event would most certainly top anything that happens to us on a regular basis! "Well...that's a problem for sure...let's come up with a solution." They may have said. Buzz Aldrin came up with the solution and inserted his felt tipped pen into the broken opening to hold down the switch that allowed Armstrong to light the engines...you remember, the engines that worked 50% of the time! The jets did work and the module was off to dock with the orbiting capsule and return home.

OK, my point is that they planned and practiced for months to counter any emergency small or large. The rest was out of their control. We are caught off guard so many times by events that we don't consider possible and that mismatch of what we thought would happen and what actually happened can cause us to fall into a sudden stress state. We cannot live in fear, as that is also a stress inducing stimulus and doesn't help us execute our mission. We can however, recognize that events can change and plan for these contingencies. It sounds easy to say, "Oh well I can't change it so I might as well just relax..." But what if we did plan for the fact that there is an unfairness to our environment and learn to accept that we are mortal and as mortal beings we will have flaws, as will others. We will lose jobs, we will someday have health problems, we will experience great sadness. What if we accept that and temper our frailness with one simple fact, for today I am happy! Right in this minute I am living my plan and working diligently on my mission. What about the peace that comes with acceptance that not everyday will be good, in fact some will be tragic...but right now, I can look out this little window in my space craft and watch a beautiful sunrise over the distant horizon. We can certainly intellectualize the possible outcomes, we can plan for contingencies, but after that...we can just enjoy the now.

We will most likely never know the focus and training of an Astronaut, but we do know our ourselves better than anyone else. We may never walk on the Moon, but we can dream of touching the sky. We may never face the perils of space flight, but we will face the same ultimate ending as every other person on Earth. In this minute we are here. Our plan is set and our overall mission is in front of us. No mission you say? Ok, sit down and make one...right now. Start with a plan and link it to another plan and then, you are on your way to the Moon! Prepare, consider, prepare more, consider more and prepare. Know there will be the little and big "switches" that will get broken in our lives...but prepare to fix them and move on. These events are sure to happen, that you can count on. Remember the coolness that our Astronauts exemplified and just try to have a small fraction of that calmness. It would have been wasted energy for them to call Dr. Phil and scream, "We don't want to die here on this stupid Moon!" We can control only so much of our future and we can control none of our past. So if you have reached the surface of the Moon in your life and took yourself a little stroll, picked up a few things, planted your flag, then let's light the jets and get on home...there's a big parade awaiting you! Then you too can say, "Tranquility base here."

PM