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Understanding your anxiety and tips for coping
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hello :wave:
Our friends Allie and Sabrina from Off The Record hosted a workshop in the chat room last night all about Anxiety. We wanted to share some of the useful stuff that came out of it for anyone else who struggles with anxious thoughts and feelings and wasn't able to come along or didn't manage to get a place.
Hope it's useful
Where do we feel our anxiety?
Feet (tapping)
Chest (feels tighter)
Hands (restless, shakey)
Tummy (butterflies)
Head (it starts to spin)
Knowing the difference between anxious feelings, thoughts and behaviours
Feelings: panic, nervous, overwhelmed, fear, lost, confused, alone, in pain, trapped
Thoughts: ‘I’m weird, an outcast’, ‘I’m going to be laughed at’, ‘I don’t fit in’, ‘People will judge me’, ‘I’m not really here.’
Behaviours: Try to hide/ be alone, run away from it, clam up, freak out.
Can you relate to these?
Anxiety can be a normal response to a threat – like a loud bang. What your body is doing is normal. It’s the thoughts that can catch us out if they become bigger than the threat really is. When these thoughts are intense and go on for a long time it can leave us feeling depressed and things can spiral.
Self- soothing statements for when you’re feeling anxious
Safe place visualisation: 5-10 minutes
Try this when you need to reduce your anxiety levels, find your inner sanctuary.
1. No matter how anxious you’re feeling try to put your feet on the floor and find a quiet space.
2. Try to think of an image or a mental picture of a place, of a sanctuary. This could be somewhere you have been before, a special retreat, a place away from the stresses of everyday life – a place for stillness, healing and somewhere you can regenerate.
3. Sit with the place in mind, sink into it a bit, the world can’t hurt you here, you can be alone, be peaceful, recharge. You can experience feelings but feel safe.
4. Just sit in your sanctuary for a while, enjoy it. Make it somewhere you can visit whenever you wish.
5. Before you leave, take an object or a sanctuary with you, back to your everyday life, it will be the link to your sanctuary :yes:
Anxiety Pledges!
What could you try out in your own life?
“No matter how high your anxiety levels are, there is always a way to bring them down again. Whether that through meditation/relaxation techniques, or through talking to people.”
“The little things can lead to the biggest achievements. Also, that the safe place / inner sanctuary exercise is more helpful than I realised before.”
Be great to hear any other ideas people have for self-soothing, or if you can relate to some of the thoughts, feelings and behaviours? Why not add your own anxiety pledge too :chin:
Our friends Allie and Sabrina from Off The Record hosted a workshop in the chat room last night all about Anxiety. We wanted to share some of the useful stuff that came out of it for anyone else who struggles with anxious thoughts and feelings and wasn't able to come along or didn't manage to get a place.
Hope it's useful
Where do we feel our anxiety?
Feet (tapping)
Chest (feels tighter)
Hands (restless, shakey)
Tummy (butterflies)
Head (it starts to spin)
Knowing the difference between anxious feelings, thoughts and behaviours
Feelings: panic, nervous, overwhelmed, fear, lost, confused, alone, in pain, trapped
Thoughts: ‘I’m weird, an outcast’, ‘I’m going to be laughed at’, ‘I don’t fit in’, ‘People will judge me’, ‘I’m not really here.’
Behaviours: Try to hide/ be alone, run away from it, clam up, freak out.
Can you relate to these?
Anxiety can be a normal response to a threat – like a loud bang. What your body is doing is normal. It’s the thoughts that can catch us out if they become bigger than the threat really is. When these thoughts are intense and go on for a long time it can leave us feeling depressed and things can spiral.
Self- soothing statements for when you’re feeling anxious
Don’t forget to talk to someone before it all mounts up.
Feel proud of the small achievements.
We make mistakes sometimes.
I will be okay.
I will survive this.
Get some space on your own and you’ll feel better.
People aren’t here to judge me.
Safe place visualisation: 5-10 minutes
Try this when you need to reduce your anxiety levels, find your inner sanctuary.
1. No matter how anxious you’re feeling try to put your feet on the floor and find a quiet space.
2. Try to think of an image or a mental picture of a place, of a sanctuary. This could be somewhere you have been before, a special retreat, a place away from the stresses of everyday life – a place for stillness, healing and somewhere you can regenerate.
3. Sit with the place in mind, sink into it a bit, the world can’t hurt you here, you can be alone, be peaceful, recharge. You can experience feelings but feel safe.
4. Just sit in your sanctuary for a while, enjoy it. Make it somewhere you can visit whenever you wish.
5. Before you leave, take an object or a sanctuary with you, back to your everyday life, it will be the link to your sanctuary :yes:
Anxiety Pledges!
What could you try out in your own life?
“No matter how high your anxiety levels are, there is always a way to bring them down again. Whether that through meditation/relaxation techniques, or through talking to people.”
“The little things can lead to the biggest achievements. Also, that the safe place / inner sanctuary exercise is more helpful than I realised before.”
Be great to hear any other ideas people have for self-soothing, or if you can relate to some of the thoughts, feelings and behaviours? Why not add your own anxiety pledge too :chin:
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