Reframing Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda
In November 2022, Plastics News hosted a forum in Nashville, TN titled Women Breaking the Mold. The mission of the forum is to help support, nurture, and grow women professionals into leadership positions within the plastics industry. The conference’s theme for 2022 was “Finding Your Voice” and offered several breakout sessions and featured speakers, including a talk given by Meena Banasiak, PHOENIX Vice President of Quality and Corporate Social Responsibility. Her presentation, titled Reframing Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda; Making Empowered Decisions and Releasing Your Regrets, challenged attendees to look at their decisions in a different light and consider perspectives that may not be their instinctual response.
As Sam Cottrill captured from Meena’s presentation in this issue of Plastics News, as well as Rubber News, we are “making decisions constantly, whether it’s intentional or subconscious.” We often do not give ourselves the same grace we would afford others when playing the coulda-woulda-shoulda game. As Meena described it, we instead question our decisions and live in a state of F.E.A.R., an acronym that evokes Failure, Excuses, Anxiety, Regret.
How do you move past this state of F.E.A.R. and come to a place where you can move forward without wondering Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda? Meena explained that through the skill of reframing, you can gradually increase your capacity for flexibility and acceptance by stopping to observe your ever-constant decision-making from a different perspective. This is more than just putting on a bright and sunny outlook and finding a silver lining; instead, reframing enable you to change the narrative and ask yourself if a decision is about reinforcing your core values, building self-confidence, and giving you to space the release your regrets.
When making decisions in search of that perfect work-life balance, it's important to realize that what is important at any given moment could change. “Balance does not equate to equilibrium,” she says, where all things are magically being handled with equal time and attention. Giving yourself the grace to know that you made a decision based on the knowledge you had at the moment, the urgency of the situation, or to remain true to your values is the key to releasing your regrets.
Meena was happy to share this presentation with our PHOENIX Phamily in December. Our employees had the option to attend in person at our corporate headquarters or join virtually from our manufacturing sites or elsewhere. It was a great way to wrap up the year and start 2023 with a new perspective and outlook!