Good morning everyone welcome to the 4th installment of @ubcSPPGA AMA (Ask Me Anything). The last couple of #AMASPPGA installments we've been talking alot about public policy and specifically public policy making to respond to the #COVID19 crisis

This morning I thought we'd shift focus a bit onto the power side of the equation in response to the discussions I've been having with many people about #COVID19 this week. We perceive power from two vantage points: our own power in a situation and the power others have over us

This is true whether we're a student working feverishly on a final paper or whether we're 1 of 7.5 billion on planet earth right now dealing with the reality of a global pandemic. In the case of the pandemic the equation feels quite stark: we have little power, #COVID19 has alot.

As power equations go, this is a tough one and understandably the longer that power differential exists the more fear, anxiety and stress we are going to experience and I think that's been the biggest challenge for many this past number of weeks #AMASPPGA

An important disclaimer here: I am not a therapist. I teach about power so I can give you some perspective that might be useful in analyzing stress. However for mental health and emotional supports, please reach out to someone who is a trained therapist https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/services/publications/diseases-conditions/taking-care-mental-health/taking-care-mental-health-eng.pdf

So the good news: your brain & body are extremely well-designed to withstand and absorb the kind of stress that we experience when something has a lot of power over us and we don't have much. As a species our success has been about over-coming exactly that type of challenge

Compared to the other species on the planet, each individual in our species is quite weak. Babies and children need adult help to survive for many years and even as adults we lack claws, muscles, fangs, venom, speed, agility or any of the other deadly weapons our competitors have

The bad news: our main weapon against all of these things is our ability to act collectively. In addition one of the key ways we metabolize stress is through connection with others and especially physical connection with others. #AMASPPGA

So while #PhysicalDistancing is imperative for survival, it is cutting off our main recovery avenue for dealing with prolonged stress + mutes positive feedback our body gives us when we work w/others to solve problems. But there are solutions! ( #AMASPPGA is all about solutions)

1. Connect with others who are problem-solving:
- one of the easiest ways to do this is to connect with daily briefings from @JustinTrudeau (Canada) @adriandix (BC)
- the #7pmcheer connects us to the front line workers
- join one of the #caremongering groups

More ways to connect + problem-solve together
- @bc211Help is looking for volunteers to help on their phone lines to support seniors in accessing government supports right now
- if you belong to a group or assoc, reach out and see if other members need help right now #AMASPPGA

2. Connect with others for comfort and connection
This one is a lot harder because the physical connection is simultaneously important and impossible right now but it's still doable - probably more doable than ever - to reach out to people in your life just to say hi.

There are so many creative ways people are finding to connect right now - everything from Netflix Watch parties (apparently I'm watching the Sound of Music for the 1st time tonight at one) to making and sharing #COVID19 playlists on streaming services.

A few weeks ago when #StayHomeSaveLives first started a friend of mine lost his mother and we decided that despite how ridiculous it seemed we would try a Zoom wake. It turned out lovely and deeply comforting for not only the family but also for those of us who care about them

The point here is that the risk of not connecting is higher than whatever risk you perceive from trying to connect so just do it. Don't underestimate the impact humour can have for emotional connection. Check out @covid19humor for a daily dose

Last thought about supporting your body and brain through stress: your body is going through a hell of a lot right now just managing an effective stress response. Expecting yourself to also #WFH #homeschool bake bread and whatever else is a lot to ask. #bekindtoyourself #AMASPPGA

Ok! So I have 14 minutes left on @AMASPPGA to try and do my 1st ever online, 280 character version of the #Power and Practice course I teach @ubcSPPGA for @ubcMPPGA

Power is a big word and that earlier equation I mentioned (how much do we have, how much does someone/something have over us) is on our minds a lot and through these last number of tweets you can see why: our survival has depended on being able to do that math quickly.

In the modern world, especially in the wealthier western democracies, the physical survival response has not been as necessary to keep honed so we've put a lot of our power awareness into ourselves and each other.

But we almost never talk about it. IMO, and why I decided to teach about power, given how viscerally connected our bodies are to power dynamics we need to be incredibly literate about it if we want our world to work in ways where power illiteracy isn't constantly undermining

When I say power, most people see....

But that's only one kind of power. It's called "positional power" or "legitimate authority". Either way, it refers to power which is derived from a title which is socially conferred. Put another way: we decide the title matters, we decide that this person gets that title

Even within that one type of power, there are many different ways it manifests. For example, these are two other people who have the same type of power but we feel their power in very different ways #AMASPPGA

That's because they each bring other kinds of power into this role. There are 5 other types of power....which I am not going to have time to go through today! Join me back at #AMASPPGA from 12-1 on Tue, Apr 7 to get the rest! Thanks for joining #StayHomeStayConnected