Does your jaw feel… clenched?
Is your tension level… high?
Is your patience with loved ones… low?
Is your worry level… high?
Yeah, me too.
Actually there are A LOT of us out there right now. EVEN those of us who look like they’re just strolling along and chillin’ are feeling stressed.
I promise you my friend, they too are losing their sh*t more than they did pre-2020.
Anxiety goes hand-in-hand with fear of the unknown… with future uncertainties.
We don’t get anxious about the past. We might be sad about it, angry even. But it’s already happened.
The future… that’s a different story. Our minds seek to protect us by imagining and predicting a bunch of scary possible futures.
Here’s what I’d like you to do for yourself:
(Especially if you’re finding that anxiety levels are NOT currently making your life, work or relationships better right now!)
- Remember that you are NOT the only one. (By far.) Be kind to yourself, give yourself PERMISSION TO BE HUMAN and to FEEL EMOTIONS. It’s really really tough to manage your anxiety if you’re busy beating yourself up and feeling shame about your emotional state. Okay? Okay. Good.
- Close the Future Gap. You can lower your anxiety levels by “closing in” how far into the future you’re thinking about. If you’re thinking about today AND ALSO about the fall, AND also about next year AND about three years from now, let’s close that gap in a bit.
Focus one MONTH at a time. If that feels daunting, then focus on one WEEK at a time. If that feels daunting, then one DAY at a time. (You get the drift.) You cannot control what happens in the future, so limit your worries by focusing on what you have a bit more control over.
This takes practice and is a constant training for your mind. Meditation and mindfulness practices will make this process easier and easier because they allow you to teach your mind to pay attention to what you WANT it to pay attention to. (check out the PS for more)
- Imagine Best Case Scenario. If you’re an expert at imagining the worst case scenario, practice challenging yourself to ALSO imagine the BEST case scenario. Get into the details and feeeel the feelings of what that best case scenario would be. (Psst, this is what visualization is all about so I’ll share my favorite practice in the PS’s for you to try!)
- Use the G-Word. I don’t mean grasshopper, grapefruit or even George Clooney. It’s gratitude. It’s no joke and no myth that getting into a state of gratitude as often as possible will soothe and support you physiologically, emotionally, physically and psychologically.
Ok, now just take a moment and breathe that all in. You got this. I’m not saying it’s easy or even simple.
But remember this – You have survived EVERYTHING that has happened to you throughout your ENTIRE life.
