Gosh what a strange time this is!

I’ve written a few tips for anyone struggling at the moment...

Anxiety is at an all time high at the moment for many people and it can feel overwhelming and difficult to shut off these overriding anxiety gremlins!

By starting to understand yourself and the way your body and mind are reacting you can begin to regain some control over your thoughts and feelings.

So how can we stop these anxiety gremlins from taking hold??

The first thing we have to do is notice the times our negative thoughts are taking hold.

Examples of these times could be...

¨We get stuck - we literally stop doing what we are doing and stop moving as we have got so deep in thought. For example we could be half way into remaking the bed and find we have sat down for a good several minutes without realising as our mind has become so full of thoughts. We end up only half completing jobs or forgetting what we were supposed to be doing.

¨Feeling low - when we feel low we are more likely to go over and over negative thoughts and feelings - feel more tearful and react in a more emotional way.

¨Slowing down - we find it hard to keep up with our normal pace of doing things and physically slow down because our concentration and energy is focused somewhere else - this can feel exhausting.

¨Getting repetitive - we constantly think the same thoughts and ask the same questions again and again using a lot of energy but never really finding the answers.

¨Going Hyper - as well as slowing down we can actually speed up using all our adrenaline going into fight or flight - heart racing and living on our nerves

What can we do?

Get busy - keep your mind and body occupied to make it less likely for your inner negative thoughts to take hold

When you are struggling - put some uplifting music on to keep your attention away from internal thinking

Keep focused on what you are doing and give yourself a distraction like going for a walk or making a phone call or deciding on a meal to cook

Exercise - exercise those toxic thoughts away! Either by going out for a run or by doing exercise indoors - there are lots of good YouTube channels to follow with aerobics or yoga that you can do in the warmth of your own front room!

Let your thoughts go - practise some micro meditations to observe and releases any negative emotions. Deep slow breathing will help the body relax and slow down.

Be sceptical - negative thoughts are a symptom of your state of mind - so try and scale them and decide for yourself how important and true they actually are.

Be mindful - be mindful of how your thought processes are changing and what times of day they are more likely to be negative - are there certain situations that trigger them?

Talk it out - arranging a FaceTime call with a friend can help you put things into perspective and being able to see a smile on the screen will have a very positive effect.

Write it down - get it out of you and onto some paper - you don’t need to be carrying around every thought and feeling - it can help to be able to look back and see how your feelings change about things.

Remember that these feelings and thoughts are temporary - throughout the days they will differ in intensity and ebb and flow. Keep note of how different you feel at certain times and when feeling anxious recall times when you felt calm and tdmdbef how your body and mind felt - you CAN chase away these anxiety gremlins and take back control!

‘Chelles x

Posted on May 7th 2020