So your traditional girl is stressed to the max? Her anxiety is climbing, she’s having a difficult time dealing with everything going on in her life, and it seems like she may fall apart at any moment.
It’s your first instinct in such a situation to relax the rules and broaden her boundaries, but that would be a huge mistake. At times like that, your girl needs more restrictions to feel safe.
When her world starts spinning out of control, the only real safety net she knows is that the boundaries and rules you set upon her give her comfort.
For example, let’s say you’re talking to her while she’s in a stressful situation and you give her a piece of advice. She replies, “yeah.” Don’t let that go. Call her out on it.
“It’s not ‘yeah’, little girl,” you remind her. “It’s ‘yes Sir’.”
This is called protocol. How your girl addresses you and the formality with which she responds restricts her language and her thoughts.
When her thoughts are restricted, she can’t overthink. When she can’t overthink, she can’t get overwhelmed. And when she can’t get overwhelmed, it’s easier for her to face the task at hand.
To your girl in a difficult situation, more structure = less stress.
-VIS
VINTAGE IN STEPFORD™ 