Raise your hand if you feel we’ve been given a triple dose of anxiety over the past few months.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be getting better.
What I do know is that when you live in a constant state of anxiety your health begins to show wear and tear.
You begin to suffer from
- Emotional eating: stop eating or eating constantly
- Restless sleep
- Irritability
- Loss of focus
And there’s more, but those are just a few that I’ve experienced over the past few months.
What have you noticed happening to you over the past few months?
With our health at stake, I wanted to share my favorite ways to soothe your anxious mind when the day is over the top with worry.
Note: This does not replace the opinion of your medical professional – please seek help from your licensed medical professional if you’re experiencing anxiety that you cannot control.
Use a simple task to gain mindfulness
When you feel like you have no control, take control of something small.
It could be merely cooking dinner or tending to your garden. Anything that you can have absolute control over is good because it forces your mind to let go of the anxiety.
Take a minute to lie down
Grab a blanket and go outside — lie down on the blanket and look up at the sky. Let the clouds wafting by help you clear your mind. Use each cloud as a symbol — assign each cloud a worry and as it drifts by and out of sight, release your worry and use the ease of nature to clear your mind.
Make time to relax
If you have 30 minutes you typically spend scrolling endlessly through social media news feeds, then you have time to schedule relaxation into your day.
Find it in the form of meditation, yoga, or even massage.
You’ll release the tension and feel wellness in mental and physical forms.
Journaling is another wonderful way to de-stress and relax your mind as you get all of your thoughts out on paper.
Use lavender
Lavender is a very calming and soothing scent.
Using a diffuser to let the aroma penetrate your space is one way to get the benefits from it.
You can also dab a little on your collarbone or temples so that the scent is with you wherever you go. Sprinkle a drop on your pillow at night before you tuck yourself in bed and drift off to sleep with the calming scent soothing you to sleep.
Here’s my favorite night time body butter recipe:
4 oz. glass cosmetic jar
72 g shea butter
35 g coconut oil
Melt shea butter and coconut oil to a liquid.
Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes.
Add 20 to 30 drops of lavender essential oil, stir to mix.
For a whipped body butter, pour into a blender to whip. Place in 4 ounce jar and use nightly as a body cream.
Breathe deep
Deep breathing exercises can help you take control of anxiety, especially when you’re starting to feel out of control. Through your nose, breathe in for a count of 3. Hold it for a count of 1, and then release it through your nose again for a count of 3. This regulates your systems and naturally coaxes your body into a state of calmness.
Face it head on
Sometimes, the best course of action is to fight fire with fire.
If there is something that makes you anxious, you might find it therapeutic to face it instead of avoiding it.
Often the thoughts we’re mulling over are worse than the actual thing we’re trying to avoid. If you’ve been stressing over a task, make a plan of action and accomplish it. You’ll see it’s not as bad as you imagined it to be, and you’ll feel ten times better when you’ve completed the task.
Turn your anxiety into fuel, whenever possible, and see how lightening the mental load helps you feel on a day-to-day basis.
What do you typically find yourself feeling most anxious about?
For me, my anxiety kicks in when I allow my fear to become larger than life.
My affirmation that keeps my mind from running away in anxiousness is
Pick one or two of these tips to start implementing this week and see what difference it makes.