Are you worrying about things that may never happen? All those scenarios in your over-active mind can leave you in a heap of anxiety, worry and exhaustion.
So is it time to give your mind a break and let all that worry drift away?
Here’s how you can let all that worry and anxiety float away to leave you feeling calmer and more in control:
Is your mind always on the go? Do you find it impossible to switch off and just unwind?
It’s very common for people to tell me they can’t switch off their minds – they may distract themselves and stay busy but as soon as they pause (e.g. in the car or when trying to sleep at night), their mind goes into overdrive.
Of course, we are always thinking, so it’s about learning to feel calmer and take control over those thoughts that gives us that freedom.
So here is a quick way to start getting freedom from thoughts:
This is a brilliant idea from a client of mine who used it to end her anxiety.
She used to find that she would lie awake at night and her mind would fill with anxious thoughts – some related to things going on in her life now and many to do with things that could happen in the future. The end result was that she found herself wide awake at night, hot, sweaty, on edge and anxious.
The insomnia was really starting to take its toll and wear her down. So she took the discussions we had in our sessions and made it work for her so she could shred her anxiety and sleep like a baby.
Are you living your life as a sprint?
Today I was talking to a client who has been having trouble managing stress. Every day had become a whirlwind of deadlines, timescales and fire-fighting. By the end of the day she was exhausted and too mentally tied in knots to tackle anything.
Her whole life was being consumed by stress – leaving no mental or physical energy for anything else. And the more stressed she became, the more tired she was yet the worse she slept. Soon, every small task became a massive mountain to struggle against.
in 1996, Matt suffered a panic attack while driving on a motorway in Wales.
After his panic attacks, Matt found himself unable to drive on motorways and dual carriageways because of the high level of panic and anxiety he experienced about driving on these types of road. To avoid motorways, Matt would plan journies using only back roads which took much more time and effort.
Matt came to see me when he was in a position where he really needed to be able to drive calmly on the motorway, just as he had before his panic attack.
in this video, Matt explains how he worked with me to end his driving fear so he could drive on motorways feeling calm and in control:
Fear and anxiety love inaction – they stop you doing things, fill your mind with all those what-ifs, and piece by piece they can shut you down and stop you doing the things you used to enjoy or that logically you know you should be able to manage.
To quench fear you need to take action.
Whether you take a large step or a small step, bit by bit you can smash through your fear and let it shrink in your life.
Here’s a quick way to shake off anxiety about an upcoming event – recently I helped a client about to start a new job and another giving a presentation using this technique.
Often we look forward to an event and our mind starts to try and fill in the gaps of what might happen with unhelpful scenarios (what if….I mess it up/I can’t do it/I make an idiot of myself etc).
And all these things that we make up in our minds can start raising anxiety levels. The closer the event gets, the more we think about it and the worse those scarios of things going wrong can get. All the while you are linking feeling anxious with the event so that when you get there you have already primed your mind to feel anxious and you may not perform at your confident best.
To win the battle against anxiety you have to start relaxing and giving your tired brain a rest from all that worry and stress.
In the same way that when you are physically tired you need to rest your body, your brain also needs regular time outs.
Most people with anxiety will say they never relax, or they aren’t very good at it – some will even say they never relax, their minds are always whizzing around.
Learning to relax is like any other skill or activity – the more you practice it, the better you get at it and the calmer and in control you start to become.
Do you have a habit of thinking the worst and then feeling stressed and anxious?
To stop catastrophizing use these steps:
Here’s a quick technique you’ll love because it shifts your focus from worry and stress to feeling positive and happy:
1) Ask yourself: ‘Who or what makes me feel happiest?’
2) Write down your answer and spend 30 seconds thinking of that person or thing.
3) Ask yourself the same question and again write down your answer and spend 30 seconds on each until you have 8-10 happy triggers.
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Enjoy feeling and being more mentally calm and physically relaxed right now:
