Most Mondays come with their own waves of anxiety for me, but this one feels deeper, scarier and a little bit more poignant. Now more than ever my medical anxieties are soaring and my spiraling is gearing up for the fight of it’s life to control my brain, but I am ready to fight back. I will not let my brain be the enemy right now. More than ever we need to be mentally healthy to make sure we are focused on facts, focused on others and focused on NOT panicking, Here are 10 things we can do right NOW to make sure our mental health is as good as ever.
Choose your response to your own emotions
I spoke about this on my instagram stories today, but this is key for me right now. I don’t always feel that I can control my emotions but I do know that I can control how I respond to them. For example when I start to feel afraid I can either panic or choose to do something that makes me feel safe such as text Jon or grab a big hoodie and snuggle my dogs on the couch. The more I can choose to sooth myself the better chance I have to not pop the lid of my anxiety and stay on top of it. Try making a list of five things you love to do and have access to right now. Mine would be: cook something, take a bath, pet my dogs, talk to Jon and listen to a podcast. When I start to feel an emotion I don’t want or like I choose to do one of those things as a response instead of feeding into my emotion.
Remind yourself that everything is temporary
You have proof of this in your everyday life. Every time you thought something wouldn’t get better, your ache or pain would never heal or that you were stuck - it was all temporary. These feelings or times may last longer than you want them to, but they are not forever. Think of yourself as a boat on an ocean. The tide and waves eb and flow up and down, up and down, but you are safe on the boat and eventually the up comes down and the down goes up.
Choose to surround yourself with comfort
Now more than ever choose to do things that bring you comfort and safety. I am talking even the smallest things such as choosing to skip the jeans today and wear pants that are comfortable. Drink something warm instead of iced. Slip into your favorite slippers instead of flats - all of these small moments add up into create a warm bubble around you that will help insulate your brain when you feel triggered or anxious! Give yourself a fighting chance starting with the little things.
Create boundaries with social media
Social media does so much good, but we know it also does so much bad for our mental health. You don’t need to be flooded with information right now, you just don’t. Put your phone down and look up. Look around you. You are safe, you are warm and you are ok. Say that over and over and over again until you believe it. Give yourself physical distance from your phone if you need to. Put it in another room! All your friends pictures will be there when you come back to it. Do something on your list from above instead.
Express your conversation boundaries to your friends & family
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the current situation chances are those around you are as well. Many people are engaging in constant discussions and conversations about Covid-19 and for them it may be soothing but for me it is making staying cool calm and collected 10x harder. IT IS OK to create space from these conversations. If you don’t want to be straightforward and actually say “I can’t have this conversation right now” there are many ways to give yourself space. Whether its taking a break from the table, bringing up a new topic or simply focusing on something else - give yourself space. I asked Jon if we could do this in our house and it has been important to feeling “normal”.
Focus on someone else besides yourself
This goes for all anxiety. When you switch the deep focus from yourself onto someone else your brain get a hit of dopamine, you feel better and hey look - you spent a whole five minutes not panicking! How can you help someone else today? Can you offer to run an errand for a family member or neighbor? Can you send an encouraging text to a friend? All of these give you a moment to feel relief for your anxieties.
Make a list of what you can control right NOW
I don’t care if it only includes: my thermostat temperature and how many times I wash my hands. DO IT. Anything that is not on the list do NOT make space for.
Seek out someone to talk to
If you have a therapist ask for a quick phone check in. If you don’t is there a friend or family member who understands your mental health struggles? If you don’t have anyone you want to talk to about this is there someone you can talk to and participate in a conversation about something else? Call an old friend to catch up? Just don’t isolate. Use your phone to connect not disassociate.
Ask for help when you may need it
It is ok to ask for help right now. When I am anxious the smallest tasks feel overwhelming. I felt like I would crumble just looking at our laundry. Those things that aren’t important can wait and asking for help with those things that need to be done now is ok. In fact is is part of soothing and taking care of yourself.
Be gentle and kind to yourself AND others
YOU ARE WORTHY, YOU ARE LOVED, YOU ARE SAFE and THIS WILL PASS
Please feel free to reach out to my on my instagram @emmawlker or over email emma@withacitydream.com if you need someone to talk to. I am here for you.
