You don’t have to manage or cope with anxiety. You can truly get to the other side of it. While it may feel like you’re scaling a tall impossible mountain peak, trust that simple shifts can create lasting change. You can get over the other side.
These shifts are straight-forward strategies you can do on a daily basis as you rebuild your inner peace muscle. In fact, for the best long term results you are encouraged to commit to regularly doing these practices. The reason isn’t because it’s anticipated you will feel stress and anxiety each day but so that you’re practiced and prepared in the exercises to call on them like it’s second nature when you need them.
Consider a firefighter who does drills and practices to be prepared for battling a fire or executing a rescue. Week after week the drills are done over and over so in the moment of the heightened stress what has been practiced and perfected is performed without second-guessing. It comes naturally and confidently. The skills needed can be completed with less stress. When you’re in the throes of an anxiety-filled moment it’s much harder to remember the exercises to do but if what you’ve been practicing daily you can trust what you’ve been practicing—what you know and the outcomes that come from what you’ve been training for. And when that moment of anxiety rears its ugly head, because you’re prepared, the moment won’t feel so big. It will be much more manageable, conquerable.
Anxiety Busting Action Strategies
It’s essential to know you can’t control what’s going on around you. The only thing you can control is whether you choose to react or stay stuck in the loop of reaction. Those with anxiety understand what it feels like to stay stuck in the loop of reacting to what’s happening around you and it doesn’t feel good. Choosing to react with a thought-out response is the way to build the capacity for resilience.
Strategy 1: Building Resilience through a Mental Dress Rehearsal.
It’s natural to feel a bit anxious or stressed about an upcoming big meeting or doing something like speaking in front of a group. You can get past this by doing a mental dress rehearsal. Imagine how the meeting will playout. Instead of going into the meeting with thoughts of “Oh, it’s going to go this way” along with all the usual negative thoughts and objections you may face, allow your mental dress rehearsal to describe conversations with a positive influence. Picture yourself being confident, having your meeting notes and documents prepared, and having practiced some answers to anticipated questions. Did you know if you quell the negative self-talk during this dress rehearsal you can feel calm and in control when the meeting occurs? The calmness in the dress rehearsal will become self-fulfilling. You’ve rehearsed some scenarios and will feel ready.
Strategy 2: Practice Square Breathing.
Draw a square on a piece of paper or even trace it on the top of your leg as you focus on your breathing. This breathing technique works like this: take your finger and place it on the upper left corner of the square. As you trace across the top of the square, inhale to the count of four. Hold. Now, exhale to the count of four as your finger traces the line going down the side of the square until you reach the corner. Hold. Inhale for the count of four as you trace the bottom line of the square to the next corner with a brief hold, finally, exhale for four counts as your finger travels up the last side of the square.
This simple exercise of focused, controlled breathing can be done eyes opened or closed, on your knee under a conference table, or in any location when you begin to feel stressed or anxious. Repeat the exercise for several rotations.
Having this breathing tool will help you regain control at work, at home, or anywhere.
Strategy 3: Take a Digital Break.
Numerous studies have shown our devices are contributing to heighten levels of stress. This makes sense because the technology was intentionally created to be addictive. There are tiny rewards built into the interactions in the ways of pings, beeps, and other notifications. You post something on social media and it feels good to have others share it or like it or jump into the conversation. When someone doesn’t respond in a timely way or in the way you hoped, this leads to feelings of stress and anxiety.
Consider turning off your devices for a week. It’s fine to use your phone to make or receive a call but don’t check social media. Limit how frequently you’re checking your emails. Put the device down when you’re at dinner or with friends. It’s okay to start off with going 24 hours device-free if you feel a week is too much. Build up and when you feel you have a better hold on how you’ve been interacting with the devices gradually start to reprogram how much time you’re willing to interact on a device. You’re taking back your time and reducing the distractions with this exercise. There is a way to find balance with having and using devices.
Discover more by listening to my podcast episode, How to Free Yourself from Stress and Anxiety with my guest Stephanie Dalfonzo.
Not sure you can get started alone and you would rather have someone to guide you? Let’s schedule a 1:1 consulting session. You truly can get on the other side of anxiety and strengthen your inner peace muscle.