A is for Anxiety and here are my tips for making it do one!
Anxiety. Bah I bloody hate this word because it consumes pretty much every day! There aren’t many days that I don’t feel or get anxious about something. Emet or no emet, I reckon we have all experienced our fair share of this little blighter. And I guess it’s a good start for the A to Z challenge! I could go on about how crap anxiety is and how it impacts my life. Or I could share with you my tips for trying to tell it to do one! How do you cope with anxiety? What are your tricks for nipping it in the bud? I don’t know about you but for me it often starts with a thought about something (often) ridiculous. For example here are some (in my opinion ridiculous Emma anxiety thoughts)
“Did I wash my hands thoroughly enough to prevent any bugs from infecting me when I ate my lunch today?”
“This chicken says use by today. It is today, will it really be ok. Is it worth the risk?”
“Why is J getting up at 3am?” (waits and listens) “ok sounds like he needs the loo” (he coughs) “oh ffs! He’s sick, he is definitely sick, ohhhhhhhhhhh”
And so it goes on and on. The spiral of thoughts that get so out of control, before I know it, I’m having a full blown panic attack. So how do you stop it? How do you say, “Oi, anxiety, STOP!” Well for me it is a mixture of things, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. It depends really. But here goes:
- Mobile games like Candy Crush and Bejewelled. I dunno but the quick movement involved with these games seem to keep my mind occupied and focused on the jewels and candies. It doesn’t always work but I often try if I feel anxiety rearing its ugly head. Many a time I scored my highest Bejewelled score thanks to an emet flap! And J has never beaten it either haha.
- I try to breathe. Not always easy but trying to focus on your breathe in, out, very slowly can certainly help. If my breathing gets out of synch and I start hyperventilating then I’m in shit creek. Sigh.
- Yep, it’s amazing how fast one can crochet when feeling anxious! All that pent up tension just goes crazy with those hooks. Hence we are swimming in bloody blankets.
- A glass of wine. Alcohol is a mixed bag for emets and a separate post that I will blog about another day. But for me I find a glass or two of wine chills me out. If I DO feel anxious about being sick, I often take the “could I drink a glass of wine” test. If I answer yes, then I know I probably WONT be sick ;-)
- Keeping busy. Since having my boy, working full time and maintaining two blogs, I’ve been so busy that I don’t have time to overthink the things I don’t need to. Another post for another day but keeping my mind busy has massively helped me.
And there, some of the ways I try and deal with anxiety! What are your anxiety crushing tips?! Feel free to share below or on twitter with me @emetomum1 :-)
April 1, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Interesting post, and here’s a high-five from a fellow anxiety-sufferer…
Hold on…
Wait for it…
*HIGH FIVE!*
There we go. :)
A random tip from me: find the right kind of music. You’d assume that calm, slow, classical music would be best, but that honestly always seemed to make me MORE anxious. I found, totally by accident, that Dragon Force is my holy grail. It’s dragon-rock (which is basically fantasy-based rock that’s one step away from being heavy metal) and it’s so complicated, so fast and BUSY, that it distracts my mind. I’m so busy working out all the different beats, rhythms, melodies, instruments, etc, that I can’t think about the anxiety anymore. XD
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April 1, 2016 at 6:05 pm
thank you for taking a read :) I completey agree re music. Music used to get me through things a lot when i was younger. I love heavy metal and was dragon force on guitar hero? i think…a few years back now! That was how i found out about them x
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April 3, 2016 at 1:42 am
It was! “Through the Fire and Flames” was on Guitar Hero, which is how I first found out about them as well. I had that song on a pile of random music on my phone, and when it came on random one day that’s how I discovered that it actually calms me down. That night I went back to my work room and tracked down as much of their music as I could find. lol
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April 3, 2016 at 6:52 pm
haha yes that’s it – it was a manic song to play on Guitar hero though! It is good to have music as a calming influence, no matter what type!
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April 1, 2016 at 3:10 pm
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. I wish you a lovely, anxiety free weekend.
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April 1, 2016 at 6:05 pm
thank you and i wish you a fab, anxiety free weekend too!
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April 1, 2016 at 6:20 pm
That’s a scary word, my friend! Glad I came to this place by strolling through blogworld. A very useful blog this
A – The Art Attack
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April 3, 2016 at 6:50 pm
thank you for taking a look. Loving how the A to Z introduces me to new blogs and new people :)
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April 1, 2016 at 7:43 pm
My best anxiety busting remedy comes with my G post…. :) And breathing…
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April 3, 2016 at 6:51 pm
Looking forward to it! thanks for reading!
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April 8, 2016 at 3:54 am
http://mummyitsok.com's A is also Anxiety. It’s one that can eat one up, isn’t it. I find praying, focusing on positive things, getting outdoors and enjoying nature, and things like this helpful in helping me have more perspective about anxious feelings. :-) The parenting road is filled with so many anxious moments, and it’s definitely helpful to plan how to cope when in them. #AtoZChallenge
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April 10, 2016 at 6:12 pm
thank you for reading and commenting. yes, the parenting road is full of anxious moments and pot holes! Getting outdoors helps me a lot too – just keeping in touch with reality i find.
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April 10, 2016 at 2:49 pm
Great tips. For me, I tend to ask myself “will this still matter tomorrow” usually the silly things I stress about won’t! The big things, that should cause me to stress generally are easier to deal with because they are real and have a practical solution
Thanks for linking up to #AnythingGoes
Debbie
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April 10, 2016 at 6:06 pm
that’s a good strategy too :) thanks for reading!
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April 11, 2016 at 7:53 pm
For me, breathing is definitely one (yoga helps too), keeping busy but in a positive non-stressed out way, and being realistic about to-do lists! Popping over from #anythinggoes
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April 13, 2016 at 5:31 pm
Yoga yes! i used to have such a good teacher and then she went off to India or something. sigh. thanks for reading!
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April 12, 2016 at 4:06 pm
Hey, I don’t think I have come across your blog before… But I will deafly have to check you out! This is a lovely post, great way to focus on the positives of negativity, rather than letting it Consume you!
I actually have a disability Q&A interview series that I run twice a month on my blog, I ask people with all types of disabilities about how they cope with it on a daily basis. Mental health being one of the factors… If you would like to know more, give me a tweet at http://www.Twitter.com/@SassyPant6 I’d love to have you on board! :) #AnythingGoes
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April 13, 2016 at 5:29 pm
thank you, appreciate you reading and commenting. I’ll check out your twitter:)
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