Anxiety sucks.
It can turn your average day into an overthought , catastrophizing nightmare.
I don’t have the cure I’m afraid .
I’ve read all the info , I know exercise , good nights sleep , healthy food and not drinking wine or overdosing on chocolate are what I’m meant to be doing to keep anxiety at bay. Not much fun though are they?
I can’t run when I’ve convinced myself I’m going to faint at any minute …and probably on the road…then I’ll get run over and killed… and then what will the kids do….Yes that’s my actual thought process during an anxious moment. Total pain in the arse.
I’ve never managed to stop that horrific pain through my stomach and my face going numb by eating kale.
How the hell am I meant to get a good nights sleep when I can barely breathe with the panic?
I know these tips are the sensible ones. Sometimes a run does blast away the panic , sometimes a long sleep stops the overthinking.
Over the years though , I’ve gotten to grips with my anxiety to an extent. It’s personal to me and I know how to nip an episode in the bud quite often , I know how to calm myself . They may sound a bit odd but anxiety is a personal thing , there’s no one size fits all solution. Maybe some of mine may work for you . Here’s how I tell anxiety to just p**s off!!!
Phone calls to my sister.
If I’m feeling a bit wobbly , or I feel unsettled this is my go to activity. Chat , especially idle gossip and thoughtless chat is a distraction. Add to that my sisters familiar voice and calms me down.
I’m not suggesting you all ring my sister when you’re panicky , though as I always say if I could clone her I’d give you all a copy – she’s ace!!
Maybe if you have someone with whom you can partake in chit chat as a distraction though , a familiar voice , a calming influence though this could work for you .
Monday vlog indulgence
Could be a bit niche this one …stay with me.
Monday’s are always a pain in the bum aren’t they? A good start to a week though can do wonders for my head. I also love a vlog , I’m a blogger , I’m nosy why wouldn’t I?
Starting the week by watching Marian Keyes weekly vlog sets me up nicely for the week . She’s funny , she’s engaging, she’s pretty , she’s smiley ( I’m pretty sure the accent helps too) I am a big fan of her books and she’s a bit of a Twitter crush of mine if truth be told. Being told stories is another on the anxiety cheat sheet and well , Marian is as fab at telling stories verbally as she is writing them down. The vlogs start my Monday with a smile. In fact I recommend them ( link here : https://www.youtube.com/user/himselfkeyes) to all of you , even if you’re not quite as nutty as me!)
Joining in with small girl
My 8 year old does everything with zeal. There is no half hearted with her. On a wobbly day , taking a leaf out of her book and just joining in with her is as therapeutic as anything I know.
If it’s feeding the ducks we’re throwing the food as far as we can , if it’s drawing or colouring it takes every bit of focus we have. If it’s dancing it’s with every bit of our body.
It seems when I put my absolute all into any activity it’s really hard for my anxiety to take a grip on my mind.
Watching stand up
An obvious one really.
From the school of fake it ’till you make it!! If I’m laughing anxiety does not stand a chance.
Writing
Could be a blog post , could be a letter (yes I still write those – how quaint am I?)
More likely though it’s just a total mind dump into a notebook.
When I am anxious I overthink.
This never ends well for me , especially when it all just swirls around my mind like some kind of brain bothering hurricane. The reason I ever started this blog was because I’ve always found that writing down what bothers me helps . Having a million thoughts whizzing around this head each one causing another hundred in an anxious chain reaction means I’m not going to feel great. Picking up a pen , writing them down uncensored gets the thoughts out of the nutty mind and into a notebook where they become much less powerful. I can see how ridiculous they are written there in black in white.Then I can shut the notebook and walk away. It helps.
They’re little things , but sometimes little things help.
Do you have any little tricks that keep your anxiety in it’s place or that can calm you ?
I’d love to hear them.
xxx
My Facebook blog page is here
