Bumblebees ('the struggle') Metaphor
By: Alexandra Zax & Dana Bakula
Purpose of the metaphor:
This metaphor was created to help explain the “struggle” we can get caught up in with our mind to individuals across the lifespan (children to adults). This metaphor can help set up talking about how ACT is different from the ways we often think about dealing with stressors. This metaphor was created as an alternate option to metaphors like quicksand and ‘caught in a riptip’ that may be challenging for all children or adults with intellectual disability or cultural differences to relate to.
Metaphor:
Let’s think about our current approach to stress. When we experience stressful, scary, sad, or frustrating thoughts or feelings, our instinct is often to try to get those thoughts and feelings to go away.
For instance, sometimes our instincts tell us to avoid these thoughts and feelings. Our mind wants to focus on something else or maybe try to control everything we can, to keep the scary thoughts from being true. We call this “the struggle.”
This probably works some of the time, which is why we keep doing it! But there are costs to to the struggle. Also, somehow those thoughts and feeling always seem to come back.
To understand the struggle better, let's think about an example. For this example, let’s think about what our normal reaction is around bees. Imagine you are walking outside, and you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a bunch of bees.
Quick! What do your instinct tell you to do? Do you kick? Swat at the bees? Do you run?
If your answer is to struggle (run, swat, kick, flail) then your instincts are the same as the rest of us! But - what happens if you starting swatting at the bees or start running away?
Does that help you?
That’s right – swatting and waving your hands at the bees makes them really angry and scared. That makes them want to sting you. Do you know what actually helps you escape a bunch of bees?
Staying super still and calm like a statue. When you do this, the bees start to calm down and lose interest in you. You are still surrounded by the bees, that has not gone away – but they are no longer angry and you can slowly walk away to safety.