Success is in your grasp, but you’re starting to feel the pressure. With a solid grip on your imagery, you can pull yourself, hand over hand, to the top.
Overview of the "Get A Grip" Metaphor
NOTE: The introduction is the same for each of the four intensities of the Get A Grip Metaphor. If you have already read it, you may want to click to skip.
Your head is in your hands. Your eyes are staring off into space. You’re turning your energy inward. And you’re telling yourself to get a grip.
We often say this phrase when we’re trying to get control of our emotions, when we’re about to be overwhelmed, often in a negative way. But what does that metaphor actually look like to you? Because if you want to transform the emotion, then you want to focus on the imagery that that phrase brings up.
Yes. You also want to focus on your body language. If you’re slouched over, you want to get yourself to sit up straighter. If your hands are on your head, you want to bring them down to your lap and focus on your breathing. And if your eyes are staring out but you’re not really seeing anything, possibly because your head is just spinning with thoughts – often negative thoughts or fear thoughts – then you want to give yourself something positive to focus on.
But within all of that, the one thing you can focus on is your metaphor. When you’re telling yourself to get a grip, what does that imagery bring up for you?
Your imagery might look very different from what I choose, but you can still walk through the process, as I do, to transform your own emotions. This week we’re working with the metaphor, get a grip.
Four Emotion Intensities with Four "Get A Grip" Metaphor Images
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The extreme intensity is a person with fists clenched and punching a human shaped dummy bag.
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For high intensity, I’ve chosen a mechanical grip that grabs onto massive rocks at a construction site.
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For medium intensity, I’ve chosen somebody who’s climbing a rope and using their hands to grip, to climb.
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And for low intensity, I’ve chosen butterflies who are gripping to flowers.
A Solid Grip: Medium Intensity Emotions
For medium intensity, I’ve gone back to hands as a way of gripping on to something. You’re telling yourself to “get a grip,” to achieve something positive. Extreme intensity was about letting go of something negative – negative emotions; high intensity was more around thoughts. This is about wanting to achieve something.
So you’re telling yourself, get a grip, you can do this.
Solid Grip: Transformation Example
This imagery speaks to how you might be able to succeed more easily:
- chalk on the hands
- looking focused as you climb that rope
- using a solid grip to climb your way to the top.
So in this instance, your focus is going to be on one hand over the other. It’s similar to “one step at a time,” but possibly more task focused, each time making sure your grip is secure – making sure you’ve done what you needed to do – before pulling yourself up and releasing that second hand to grab above it. It’s about strategy and consistency, not recklessness. In fact, that’s probably your fear or your concern when you’re telling yourself to get a grip.
Medium intensity emotions, you’re starting to feel the pressure. So get a grip means keep those emotions away from you. Keep focused on your goal, one step at a time.