This post is broken into two parts: what to do to break the immediate grasp of being anxious and how to be proactive to avoid angst in the first place.
Ways to Immediately Relieve Angst: This is for those times when you are
suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of dread or fear, have a lump in your throat,
racing heart, dizziness or any other sign that you are highly anxious.
• Stay present and
breathe. Try one of the following breathing patterns to see which one works
best for you.
- CO 2 Breathing: Cup your hands over your
mouth or use a paper bag. Breath into your hands or the bag slowly. Breathe
normally and deeply.
- Gently and slowly inhale a normal amount of
air through your nose, filling up your lower lungs first and then your upper
lungs. Hold your breath to the count of “three.” Exhale slowly through pursed
lips, while you relax the muscles in your face, jaw, shoulders, and stomach.
- Sit in a chair or on the floor with arms on
your lap or sides. Take a deep slow breathe through your nose for a count of 5
or 6 seconds. Hold the breath for 2-3 seconds and breathe out slowly through
your mouth for another 6-7 seconds. Breathe like you’re whistling. Repeat 10
times
- Equal Breathing helps you fall asleep. Inhale
and exhale on a count of four through your nose. Repeat for 10 breaths or more.
You can extend counts to 6-8 seconds per inhale/exhale
- Alternate Nostril breathing: Hold
your right thumb over your right nostril and inhale deeply through your left
nostril. At the peak of inhalation, hold your right ring finger over your left
nostril and release and exhale through your right nostril. Repeat the breaths 3
to 5 times.
• Take a walk,
stretch, yoga pose-move
• Laugh out
loud
• Talk to someone
friendly
• Change the
dialogue in your head. Run through a mental checklist-is there a reason to
believe something is wrong; is there evidence; could I be blowing this out of
proportion? Try affirmations, such as “I’m okay, this is just anxiety;” “my
thoughts aren’t reality.”
Changes to make that can reduce anxiety
driven situations
• Identify what
makes you anxious and think about ways to reduce or eliminate these types of
situations.
• Put some
processes in place so they don’t become sources of stress. One of my recent
ones is to use the “reminders” feature on
my phone and keep a list of things I need. Before I would run around trying to
figure out what we need before I went shopping and I’d not only miss things,
but I’d over buy thinking I was almost out of something. Now as I notice we’re
running low, I add it to my virtual shopping list. Don’t have a phone, attach a
note pad to your refrigerator and use it. Yes, I’m becoming a list minder, but
it definitely reduces stress so I’m okay with it.
• Clear clutter as
piles of “stuff” can drain your energy and make you feel stressed. Your home
should be your sanctuary. Check out The KonMari Method for Tidying When Affected by a Chronic Condition
• Evaluate your
relationships and eliminate or significantly reduce time and interactions with
people who make you feel anxious. Cultivate supportive friendships.
• Simplify finances:
put as many things on autopilot as possible (direct deposit of paycheck; auto deduct
for savings , monthly bills etc); reduce the number of accounts you have,
particularly credit cards; examine monthly bills and determine if there are
things you aren’t really using, such as cable TV; pay for weekly expenses with
cash (you save money doing this and reduce the need to continually balance your
check book).
• Simplify
responsibilities: Learn to say no. Only commit to things you want to do and
have time for. Over commitments turns into poor performance and leads to
anxiety and resentment.
• Reduce or
eliminate screen time be it TV, smart phone or computer. Social media can not
only be a time suck, but studies show it doesn’t increase a sense of well
being. Set your phone so it doesn’t ping you every time there is a call,
e-mail, text etc. Select the most important features. The world isn’t going to
end if you miss a call.
• Go for
contentment and skip the happiness obsession
• Take
vacations
• Learn to say
“I don’t care.” You don’t have to have an opinion on everything so only
optimize what’s really important to you.
• Put off till
tomorrow or even until next week what you can. Everything doesn’t have to be a
priority. Live in the moment and avoid multi tasking. You can’t really multi
task anyway.
• Relax: Dance,
listen to music, draw, paint, do nothing, read a book, exercise, take a hot
bath, write. Do whatever that makes you feel comfy, cozy and saying “aaahhhhh....”
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