There can be many different causes for feeling anxious! There is a difference between diagnosed anxiety disorders and feelings of anxiousness.
Have you been struggling with feelings of anxiousness?
Perhaps worry loops in your mind?
Do you feel a sense of gripping in your belly or tightness in your chest?
There can be many different causes for feeling anxious! There is a difference between diagnosed anxiety disorders and feelings of anxiousness. Anxiety disorders can include generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety, disorder, or specific phobias, and all of these disorders, need input from qualified health professionals.
However, for some of us, the feeling of anxiousness needs some very basic and practical steps!
I can recall in my own journey a feeling of anxiousness that would sometimes cripple me, making it difficult to leave the house. I found myself floundering to navigate overwhelm, brain-fog and unexplainable worry. Although I did seek the help from professionals, I also found these very practical steps to be helpful.
Let’s start by exploring some of the causes for feelings of anxiousness. The causes can include:
A family history of mental health problems.
Stressful life events
Physical health concerns, such as overactive thyroid, hormonal imbalances, asthma.
Substance use such as drugs or alcohol.
Other factors that can impact the feeling of anxiousness can include
Comparison of where we are to where we think we should be.
Comparison with others, where they are is clearly so much better.
Let’s start by working from the ground up to offer practical tips to manage feelings of anxiousness.
Eliminate alcohol. Alcohol disrupt your sleeping pattern and negatively impacts your nervous system. Try eliminating it completely for a short period of time and see how you feel.
Ditch coffee. (Gasp!) Caffeine accelerates the sympathetic nervous system, which makes it much harder for us to calm down!
Get a GP check for any food intolerances, hormonal imbalances, thyroid problems or respiratory problems such as asthma. It can be quite common for these simple health concerns to impact feelings of anxiousness in a way that is easily dealt with.
Get some regular exercise and get into nature. As simple as it seems, much like brushing your teeth on a daily basis, it’s the simple steps can make a big difference in the long run.
Try simple breath techniques! Ask yourself where are you breathing? Is it into the neck and shoulders? Let the belly relax and soften and allow your belly to expand with an inhale. Slow your respiratory rate down by creating longer exhalations- inhale for the count of 3 and exhale for the count of 5 or 6. Try box breathing where you simply inhale and pause, and then exhale and pause in a cycle for a few minutes.
Pause and simply name how you feel. Often uncomfortable feelings such as anxiousness create a response where we feel we need to run away, hide or numb. This is not a healthy way to integrate our emotions. Simply pressing pause and acknowledging or naming I feel anxious is a simple way of allowing yourself to let things be and allow them to pass. Accepting that life has some discomfort and allowing it to simply be without running away, hiding or numbing it is a good step.
Address the comparison with yourself. There is no harsh critic than self. When we find ourselves in a place that is not where we expect we should be, a sense of anxiousness can fill us. Perhaps our financial or career prospects are not where we hoped. Perhaps we have health concerns we didn’t expect. Perhaps our family relationships are not turning out as planned and suddenly where we are is not where we expected to be. We criticise ourselves, blame ourselves and then worry in a loop as to how things might change. Start by creating a statement for yourself, I am enough, I am doing my best with the tools and resources that I have, I give myself permission to be, where I am, who I am, as I am. I can press pause and offer myself kindness. I am in the right place to learn and grow.
Address the comparison with others.Over there looks so good. As you scroll through Instagram and social media, comparing yourself to the lives of friends, family, or others. The unrealistic expectation that life should be a bed of roses and butterflies, right? Often, when we compare ourselves to an unrealistic fantasy, it creates a seesaw affect in our emotional health, and a sense of anxiousness. Start asking yourself am I seeing full picture? What would be the downsides to that fantasy? What would be the upsides to where I am now? Addressing the downsides to your fantasy comparison can help balance the emotional seesaw and bring you back to a centred place of calm.
Covering the basics like alcohol, caffeine, health checks and exercise is your first step. Using breath techniques to calm nervous system can help. Naming how you feel and acknowledging life has its discomfort is your next step. Checking your perceptions, your fantasy comparisons and opening yourself to the reality that life is about authentic balance, hard and easy, challenge and support is often an additional step we need.
Say to yourself: “Pause. Breathe. This is simply a feeling, I can let it be, give it space and it will pass. I am enough. I am doing my best with the tools and resources I have. I accept who I am, as I am and hold gratitude for where I am today”
I hope this gives YOU the early steps you need in managing anxious feelings. Remember these tips are not designed or intended to replace medical advice from your health care practitioner! Always seek individual assessment for your health care provider. Lots of love – Niky 🦋
Like to learn more about developing resilience through life challenges?
Niky offer’s her Rise UP program for women online as well as her within her four day Rise UP retreat.
