Self-Command: PPE for the Mind
Firefighters utilize a wide assortment of personal protective equipment.
We wear helmets to save our heads from hard knocks.
We wear bunker gear to shield our bodies from extreme temperatures.
We don medical gloves to protect us from bloodborne pathogens.
You could also consider fire engines and all the tools contained in them to be a form of PPE. Big, burly vehicles withstand impact to protect the riders inside. And the tools of the trade they are stocked with help crews work safely and effectively on scene.
So why is it that the minds of firefighters are left completely unprotected?
The mind is just as fragile as the body, if not more so. Everyone has triggers. Everyone has bad memories. Everyone has a button or two that can be pushed. That’s the nature of being human.
Sooner or later, an unprotected mind will reveal its vulnerable areas. Those vulnerabilities tend to overpower logic and cloud judgment if left unchecked. States of subpar emotional functioning (depression, anxiety, shame, etc.) can continue for years resulting in suicide, lack of mission satisfaction, and career abandonment.
Fire service personnel who fall victim to these states have a hard time perceiving that they have control. They will make moves, sometimes extreme ones, to alleviate the unpleasant sense of powerlessness.
Self-command is one way to prevent these vulnerabilities from taking control in the first place. The concept is simple: become the chief of the mental environment.
Consider the mind to be a part of your firefighters’ personal safety system. Condition it for fitness just like you would with PT. Teach them how to develop their inner authority and assume command of the things that happen in their minds just as they would at the scene of an incident.
That inner authority will serve them well. It’s also called perseverance, self-discipline, grit, or tenacity – the practice of extricating from volatility, to remain focused and clear on the intended goal. The goal could be a state of calm or collectedness that’s desirable to maintain as a baseline.
Some folks were lucky enough to develop this skill of self-command as a part of their personality.
For the rest of us, it can be learned. Once learned, they will never leave home without it.