Anxiety.
Anxiety,
a natural response to stressful situations that some people process differently than others.
It's fleeting for some.
It's debilitating for some, paralyzing them.
It's annoying for others. Like siting by a dog who won't stop licking itself, you can't ignore it's there.
"I GET IT!" You want to scream...but screaming won't make it stop. In fact, it'd probably make it worse because then you get anxious about the anger outburst you just had and want to know why you weren't able to control that. So then you're anxious about an annoying dog, your anxiety, and your anger, making it nearly impossible to get your mind back on track until you've taken a second for yourself.
For me, anxiety is this: rarely obvious to others, but consistent in my mind like an engine in a gas powered car. It's audible, but you don't think about every single second unless you're really trying to hear it.
I typically get anxious in a situation because I've considered too many possibilities of how something might go, and I never seem to be able to focus on the positive possibilities.
So I'm anxious I'll fail. Which makes me anxious that I'll be embarrassed publicly. Which makes me anxious because I care about others opinions. Which makes me anxious that they'll think I'm a fraud, because my general persona is nonchalance about everything.
Anxiety was the worst for me when I was post-partum. I do not like to fail, and felt as if that's all I was doing as a new mom. And doing it alone because of an absentee partner made it that much worse. Realizing there's no "right" way to raise a child, but all I could do was try helped me a lot.
Ultimately, I've been lucky enough to find a way to cope with the anxiety.
Most often, my coping mechanism is music and deep breathing.
Sometimes when I'm just over it, it's whiskey. But even when I take that first sip I know it's not going to actually help...so it sits on the counter and instead I journal. (Or if I'm in public, I vent to a friend, then go home and journal) Alcohol or drugs or whatever will never better your situation long term.
Journaling is what allows me to come full circle with my emotions, because my brain is able to run wild and writing it down is intoxicatingly liberating. (You should try it!)
So I challenge you to take a mindful pause when you begin to feel anxiety creep in.
Take a deep breath. Take another. Just breathe, for 60 seconds.
Think about nothing but taking the breath and exhaling it.
Then come back to what you were doing knowing that whatever it is, you can get through it!
→forwardspero
@forwardspero on instagram/twitter; or email me if you want to reach out
a natural response to stressful situations that some people process differently than others.
It's fleeting for some.
It's debilitating for some, paralyzing them.
It's annoying for others. Like siting by a dog who won't stop licking itself, you can't ignore it's there.
"I GET IT!" You want to scream...but screaming won't make it stop. In fact, it'd probably make it worse because then you get anxious about the anger outburst you just had and want to know why you weren't able to control that. So then you're anxious about an annoying dog, your anxiety, and your anger, making it nearly impossible to get your mind back on track until you've taken a second for yourself.
For me, anxiety is this: rarely obvious to others, but consistent in my mind like an engine in a gas powered car. It's audible, but you don't think about every single second unless you're really trying to hear it.
I typically get anxious in a situation because I've considered too many possibilities of how something might go, and I never seem to be able to focus on the positive possibilities.
So I'm anxious I'll fail. Which makes me anxious that I'll be embarrassed publicly. Which makes me anxious because I care about others opinions. Which makes me anxious that they'll think I'm a fraud, because my general persona is nonchalance about everything.
Anxiety was the worst for me when I was post-partum. I do not like to fail, and felt as if that's all I was doing as a new mom. And doing it alone because of an absentee partner made it that much worse. Realizing there's no "right" way to raise a child, but all I could do was try helped me a lot.
Ultimately, I've been lucky enough to find a way to cope with the anxiety.
Most often, my coping mechanism is music and deep breathing.
Sometimes when I'm just over it, it's whiskey. But even when I take that first sip I know it's not going to actually help...so it sits on the counter and instead I journal. (Or if I'm in public, I vent to a friend, then go home and journal) Alcohol or drugs or whatever will never better your situation long term.
Journaling is what allows me to come full circle with my emotions, because my brain is able to run wild and writing it down is intoxicatingly liberating. (You should try it!)
So I challenge you to take a mindful pause when you begin to feel anxiety creep in.
Take a deep breath. Take another. Just breathe, for 60 seconds.
Think about nothing but taking the breath and exhaling it.
Then come back to what you were doing knowing that whatever it is, you can get through it!
→forwardspero
@forwardspero on instagram/twitter; or email me if you want to reach out
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