Compartmentalization: How Putting Thoughts Aside Can Be Both Constructive and Destructive In Your Life

Compartmentalization. That is a big word. It is an important concept we were taught in flight training.  The idea is that you can block thoughts from your mind so that you can focus on what is important in the moment.

Let me share an example. We were doing our preflight for a helicopter flight from Norfolk to Camp Lejuene. The pilot I was flying with mentioned that he had a headache. We finished the preflight and had a nice flight. We landed, taxied to our space and shut down the helicopter. Once we were shut down I asked him then how his headache was. He seemed confused for a minute and then remembered. “Oh. My headache! Ow!” He pulled a packet of Goody’s powder out of his flight bag and downed it. 

During the preflight he had done as he had been trained. There was no room for him to be distracted while flying. He needed to be completely alert and focused on the flight. Once the flight was completed, he had the “luxury” of being able to feel and notice his headache again. That is compartmentalization.

This can be a valuable thing for a pilot who has to focus on his mission. In life it can be either good or bad.

I know people who are terrible at compartmentalization. They don’t have just one storyline running in their head. They may have 3, 4 or even dozens of thought-lines running simultaneously. When something bothers them, it can be very hard for them to focus or rest. When they lay down at night, they can’t just decide to turn off the bothersome thoughts. The thoughts just keep going and going. Sometimes the thoughts are intrusive and are about things that cannot be fixed. In that setting I wish for them the ability to compartmentalize.

We talk about techniques to help them do this. Journaling can help. Another technique is to write things down so that they can be temporarily put away. “I can’t fix this now. I will write down reminders so that I can shift my attention and do what I need to do now.” 

A corollary to this is, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” In this version, the problem is truly about something that is not your responsibility and something that you cannot fix. In this setting, you hopefully can acknowledge those facts and then move on with life. You might not like what the monkeys or the circus are doing, but whether you worry about it or not really isn’t going to change anything. You might as well push that over to a corner of your brain called the “not my circus” area and go on with your life.

It was another day and another mission. This time I was in control and practicing landing the helicopter in a tight landing zone. For this exercise, the crew chief in the back of the helicopter would call out instructions to me. Forward, back, left, right and so on until we were carefully landed. I completed the exercise without problems but felt tense the entire time I was doing it. I just wished there was not the loud buzzing in my ear. It was then that I realized that I had forgotten to cancel the low altitude warning. This was an alarm that was warning me that I was getting close to the ground. On landing you generally cancel the alarm. I had forgotten to do so. I was so focused on my task that I had ignored all of the alarms.

Sometimes we see people doing things that are nothing like what we would expect from them. Infidelity is one of those things. How could a man or woman after years of marriage forget all of the good that went before? Can they just ignore all of their shared experiences? Can they ignore the love that they shared? How could they become willing to sacrifice what had before been so very precious to them? 

I am convinced that compartmentalization plays a large role. They are able to push the thoughts of their past aside and focus on the new person or relationship that is in front of them. They lock the past away to a place in their brain where they do not have to look at it. They also lock away the ideas of the destruction and harm that they are causing to themselves and their family. 

The alarms are blaring, “altitude, altitude, altitude” and yet they ignore the alarms. They fly their lives, their marriage, and their families into the ground.

Compartmentalization is a tool. Like any tool it can be effective or dangerous.

Electric saws scare me a little bit. Every time I see the large spinning blade I imagine fingers cut off or worse. If you are building a house or doing other types of carpentry, they are necessary and effective tools. But they are also dangerous. You have to respect the risks of the tool. You need to know what precautions to take before you begin to use it. 

I am not as afraid of a chain saw. Probably because of my time using them on the farm, I am more familiar with them. I do know however to wear solid shoes, heavy jeans, leather gloves and generally I wear eye and ear protection. I also know about the risks of kick back and ways that I am comfortable using the saw and ways that I am not.

Compartmentalization is the same way. It is a powerful and effective tool to allow you to focus and achieve things in life. It can bring you peace in times when you do not have control. The ultimate compartmentalization is in trusting God.

As a flight surgeon I learned about a lot of the bad things that can happen while flying.  If I am not careful when I am sitting on a commercial airline I can imagine bad things happening. I have absolutely no control over what happens. As we approach landing in bad weather with a strong crosswind and poor visibility I could drive myself crazy. Or I can compartmentalize. The pilots are well trained. The rate of aircraft crashes is remarkably low. Whether I panic or not won’t change our odds of a safe and successful landing.  The dozens and dozens of aircraft crash stories get put away. I don’t need them in the moment. I trust in the ones who are in charge.

What about in life? Cancer certainly is a huge uncertainty. This past year has brought endless cycles of grief to people we know and love. How can you live in a world where there is suffering and injustice? 

One of my favorite quotes is this, “We can live in a world where there is violence and injustice because we know that God is in control and that His process is being worked out.  And in this – the righteous can live by faith.”  Another one is this, “God remains quiet. But it is not a cold and uncaring silence. It is instead as if He is saying, ‘Peace, child. You cannot understand.’”  It doesn’t have to make sense. But you can park it (for a little while at least) in the area that says, “I know that God is in control and I can let Him handle this.”

As in many things it comes down to balance. Compartmentalization is a powerful tool. It can also be dangerous. You need to make sure that you use it safely. 

Compartmentalize so that you can ignore a headache to focus on flying a helicopter safely and complete your mission? Yup. Use it to help you so that you don’t obsess over things you cannot control? Sure. Trust God even if you can’t control what is happening? Absolutely. 

Compartmentalize to enable you to ignore or betray the trust of your loved ones for a momentary gain? Nope. Neglect problems in your relationships because you don’t want to deal with them? Also nope. Ignore the alarms sounding in your head about the implications of what you are about to do? Never.

We climbed back into the helicopter to head back to Norfolk. We briefed on what was important. We talked about what we had to pay attention to. A lot of other things would be safely and effectively put aside for the duration of the flight. We knew what we were doing. We used compartmentalization to not be harmed by thoughts we didn’t need to focus on during the flight. We could pick those thoughts back up once we landed and shut the helicopter down again.