The first step to managing stressful moments is managing your own emotions. Think about that moment when you notice an upset student in your classroom, whether it's in person or virtually. At the very same time that you notice their emotions, you're also experiencing your own emotions. This is where we can pause and check in with ourselves first. This is an emotional crossroads for identifying and regulating our own emotions will make the difference between a wise or an impulsive course of action. Here's why regulating our own emotions first is important; it keeps our own stress levels low, away from our own fight, flight or freeze response. It signals to our students that were safe and available, it keeps our brains access to our prefrontal cortex; higher, better, clearer thinking available to us. Our self-regulation in the heat of the moment is an important role modeling opportunity for everyone. Consider the different strategies you discover throughout this course that might work for you to feel at ease and calm. Perhaps you're using positive self-talk and saying to yourself something like, ''I've got this, '' ''I'm a calming force here, '' ''It's going to be okay,'' ''I've been here before.'' Can you think of one or two self calming phrases that might work for you? Or maybe shifting your perspective would be helpful. As we've learned in a previous section, instead of thinking what's wrong with this student, you may reframe to, what's happened to the student? Or what are they going through? Or what is the student's behavior trying to tell me? Remember that you do always think of a few self calming phrases that help you reframe the situation and approach it from the ideal state of mind.