Anxiety, Anyone? 9 Steps to Help You Keep Your Anxiety at Bay in Times of High Stress
There is a lot of uncertainty in the air and I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people are feeling anxious moving through these unprecedented changes and transitions. Read below if you want to learn some tips to help you manage these feelings in a healthy way.
How do YOU know when you are feeling anxious? Does it sneak up on you or do you feel it building up? A great starting point for managing anxiety is to start building your awareness around it, and support yourself to recognize the signs that let you know it is on it's way..... it is so much easier to support ourselves when we recognize the "warning signs" rather than when the anxiety has completely taken over.
Anxiety is a natural response when we are triggered into the "fight or flight" response in our sympathetic nervous system. This is a trauma response, and it was formed to help you SURVIVE. Our bodies are so amazing! But this trauma/survival response can also be debilitating and it is important to support yourself to regulate your nervous system by engaging your ventral vagus that will enable you to feel grounded, secure, and connected to others.. Here are a few steps to help you get there:
Acknowledge your anxiety is present, and breathe into it. (Pushing it away or suppressing it in any form does NOT actually make it go away. That usually has the opposite effect you are looking for!)
Notice the physical sensations that coincide with your anxiety. Breathe.
Don't engage in thoughts until you feel grounded. (Engaging in thoughts will keep you in your anxiety)
Connect to all 5 senses, immerse yourself in the here & now.
Put your feet on the floor, and BREATHE. Really! Breathing deeply and slow stimulates your vagus nerve which is what grounding is really all about. Click here to learn more.
Once you are feeling grounded and calm, write down what you are feeling anxious about, ground yourself again, and give yourself some reality-checks around your concerns. Consider getting some outside perspective from a reasonable and safe/trustworthy person!
Identify what is in your control and out of your control.
Remember to acknowledge that your anxiety is coming up as an important alert for you to make sure that you are safe! It is so important not to shame yourself for having this survival response.
Breathe, do whatever you need to do to feel supported and to stay grounded, and use your power to support yourself instead of engaging in anxiety-producing thoughts and activities trying to control what you cannot control. (This will just spiral you back into anxiety again).
With so much stress and uncertainty in the air with school starting up again, now is a great time to invest in yourself to develop a stronger set of coping strategies to support yourself and your kids through this transitional time! Please visit the Library of Self Paced Workshops to choose which course will best suit you.
JEN REDDISH FROM THE ESSENCE OF YOU IS A REGISTERED MASTER THERAPEUTIC COUNSELLOR IN CALGARY, ALBERTA. JEN HOLDS WORKSHOPS, RETREATS, GROUPS & INDIVIDUAL THERAPY SESSIONS ON TOPICS PERTAINING TO MOTHERHOOD, BODY IMAGE, & THE PERI-NATAL PERIOD.