4 Tips on Dealing with Anxiety;
What to do When Worries Overwhelm Us
Anxiety can be extremely difficult to live with at times. I have been there, anxiety consumed me daily and made any day to day task or living difficult. It made me feel claustrophobic.
The worries that anxiety brings us can be overwhelming. At times it feels like you’re drowning beneath the weight of the constant anxious thoughts. Does this sound familiar to you? Below you fill find 4 tips on dealing with anxiety and what you can do when worries overwhelm you and the panic sets in.
1.Breathe.
I used to eye-roll at this suggestion. I was breathing, wasn’t I? Yes, but not effectively. When you place focus on your breathing and try some calming breathing techniques, you are able to ground yourself and calm your body down. It is the first thing to do when you can feel panic setting in. You almost need to pause what is going on around you and in your body. This tip is great too, as you can do it anywhere and all you need is a bit of patience and focus.
To begin with, just focus on the rising and falling of your stomach. Can you feel that? Keep focused on it. Can you feel the breath as you exhale on the top of your lip? Can you feel your lungs filling up? Next time you are panicked- focus on these questions.
When you have started doing this, you can then progress onto the next part- a breathing technique. An easy one to remember is the 4-7-8 technique. Breathe in through your nose, counting to 4. Then hold this breath for 7 seconds. You then need to breathe out, counting 8 seconds and make sure you do this through your mouth to make a slight ‘whooshing’ sound. Repeat 4 times. Stabilising your breath takes the focus off of whatever you are panicking about. It helps to ground your mind and body.
Learning to do this, even when the children are creating a lot of background noise, will really help to calm yourself.
- Worry Time.
This is one of the most effective tips I took on board and it actually helped so much. The whole premise of ‘Worry Time’, is that whenever you have a worry or anxious thought pop into your head throughout the day, you either jot this down on a note pad, or into your phone then you MUST get back to whatever you were doing before- don’t indulge in the worry yet. You continue to do this throughout the day.
Then in the evening, every evening, you must set a timer for 10 minutes. You then go through your list of worries. Now you will find that some have already resolved themselves, but with the remainder, you must separate these into hypothetical worries and practical worries. With the hypothetical worries, you can’t do anything about them. EG, worrying that something ‘bad’ will happen to a loved one or child. This is a ‘what if’ worry- you have no evidence that this will happen, and nothing you can do about it. With these worries, you need to acknowledge them, acknowledge that you are worried and then cross it out. These may come back each day but eventually, you will recognise them as being just that- a worry- and you will learn to not let it affect you daily anymore.
When you come across a practical worry, EG, worrying about a debt, you should use some of the time to write practical steps and goals to break this down into manageable chunks. It’s time to plan. You need to plan how you can eradicate this concern and solve your practical worry.
Worry time changed my life. When you do this for a long period of time, you are then able to recognise the worries as soon as they come about and decide on whether to continue to worry, or whether to resolve it or let it go.
- Seek Help and Support.
There are so many services out there that can help those suffering with mental health and anxiety. If you are a Mother, struggling with anxiety and raising children at the same time, then reach out and speak to someone. Sometimes, all you need is to speak to someone about your worries for you to be able to make sense of them.
When you share a worry, it suddenly seems a lot smaller and a lot more manageable. Perhaps even, those you share it with would be able to offer helpful advice or give you a chance to figure out the way forward. Here at Home Start, we are here to listen to your worries. You just need to ask for us to come and help and support you.
- Focus on the positives.
When it feels like everything is dark and gloomy around you, it is essential to find the light. Even if there is only a glimmer, seek it out and hold onto it. Due to a special planner/ diary I had brought, I had to write down four good things that had happened each and every day throughout the year. Wow, this was eye opening.
I want you to do the same. Whether it’s on your phone, or in a special diary. Each day you should write down four good things or positives from your day. This may seem impossible to begin with but give yourself some time and you will soon see how much the little things in life make the BIGGEST differences. As soon as you recognise what gives you joy each day, try to inject more of that into your daily life.
Anxiety is extremely common, but it’s frustrating having to deal with it alone. It becomes far more manageable when you seek help and support from the right people. If you are finding that worries are consuming you and that it’s affecting your daily life, and need more help and support, then please do get in touch with us here at Home Start.
Written by Gayleen Hodson who is a copywriter. She writes for a variety of different businesses, but her passion lies with mental health. A mother of two boys, Gayleen is familiar with family life and having to juggle her own mental health and wellness on top of caring for two children. Having been on her own unique journey, she is now trying to reach out and help others that may be struggling through her though provoking, and hopeful blog posts.