How to deal with a personal crisis

How can you find a sound next step in a personal crisis?

Setbacks can narrow your view of what is possible. Adaptability, meaning and relationships open up new perspectives.

This article draws on ideas communicated by Andrew Huberman and connects them with a personal question: what gives your next step meaning?

1. Neuroplasticity. The brain and nervous system can adapt. Metaphorically, a vehicle becomes a Jeep on a gravel road and a racing car on a Formula 1 track. Experiences change how we act and react. That knowledge can offer encouragement in difficult times: new paths arise through steps we repeat.

2. Finding meaning in a crisis. Huberman connects motivation with how we judge goals and progress. The reward system and its messenger dopamine play a part. In his reflections, Viktor Frankl and Nelson Mandela exemplify people who retained meaning and inner direction under extreme conditions. The practical question is: what gives your next step meaning?

3. Living with disappointment and setbacks. Huberman explains reward prediction: an expected result can drive us; its absence can disappoint. Becoming aware of expectations and recognising even small advances can reshape the path towards a goal. Particularly in a crisis, the next step within our influence remains important.

4. How friends and family affect the brain and help us feel better even during a life crisis. Chemicals including serotonin and oxytocin help create wellbeing and a sense of reward for things that are within reach and will be part of our immediate sphere of life. They are released when we meet loved ones, see close friends and sometimes even when we look at objects that matter to us. They tend to feel heartwarming because they activate neural circuits connecting gut and brain and create a feeling of warmth in the upper body.