I had a conversation, not so long ago, with a lovely anxiety client of mine who said she was feeling as though she was stuck on a hamster wheel and was constantly in fear of falling off. I couldn't help but really feel for her and that sentence really stuck with me as I understood exactly how she felt. And I know many of you will too.
Luckily there are number of different things you can do to keep yourself feeling calm and relaxed so I thought I would share with you a few of them.
1. Challenge your thoughts: we often get stuck in a negative mindset with thoughts that actually have no right being there. If you are thinking something negative, question what evidence you have to back that up. If you feel like people don't like you - what proof do you have? If you are worried something bad is going to happen - how do you know that will be absolutely happen? Changing your thoughts will change how you feel, and if you go into a situation feeling more positive you will find it much easier to deal with.
2. Write those anxious thoughts down. When you have so many thoughts whizzing around your mind at 100 miles an hour, it can be really useful to get them down on paper. This is a great exercise for getting them out of your mind and looking at them in black in white can make them seem much easier to manage.
3. An amazing grounding technique for when that anxiety feels too much is to really acknowledge you physical senses. Focus on 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch around you, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 things you can taste.
4. Deep, slow and rhythmic breathing will actually slow your nervous system and your heart rate so that can let go of the physical effects of anxiety. If you are standing, keep your feet hip width apart and take slow deep breaths in through the nose for the count of 5 and out through the mouth for the count of 5. Keep doing this for 3-5 minutes until you find yourself feeling calmer.
5. Make sure you are doing things that you enjoy. Lives are so busy with work, kids, houses to run and people to care for. This gets really overwhelming when you are the bottom of the list of priorities. So allow some time for you because you are important!
I am holding a free anxiety reframing challenge beginning 12th September 2022! If you would like to join in simply sign up below:
Lauren xx