Anxiety feels like somebody sitting on your chest, or cotton wool stuffed in your head. It feels like breathlessness, like drowning without water. It feels like the clock is moving too fast, or the treadmill is unmerciful. It feels like the pounding of a restless heart in a fragile chest. It feels like nausea and head rush, dizziness and dread. Anxiety can present as restlessness, sleeplessness, a stomach churning. It can sound like ‘I am very small and meek in this big scary and hostile world’. Anxiety’s voice hammers, ‘I’m not good enough’... ‘I’m not enough’ … ‘I’m gonna fail’ … ‘I’ll never make it’ … ‘I can’t do this’ … ‘I won’t cope’. Anxiety feels like an unforgiving henchman’s guillotine over our bony neck. It feels like panic, relentless thoughts; a foreboding; an overwhelming overture of emotions stuck within. It feels lonely, desperate, afraid – like I don’t wanna live like this. Anxiety feels like a dull pain in our body which engulfs and clouds our days, overpowering our vitality and vigour. It feels bad. Anxiety is something we will all experience in our lifetime; big or small. Some have a predisposition to it, some a personality type, and others just light and transient experiences. One thing is for certain: anxiety cannot be annihilated or destroyed. We must learn to live with some degree of this feeling in our lives - but with insight and some lifestyle changes – can learn to manage it well. Mindfulness: another buzz word of the last decade, helps us manage anxiety. Living mindfully basically means living in the moment, not focusing too much on the past or future but staying in the here and now, acknowledging and accepting what presents itself; asking ourselves: ‘what is it that I really need to worry about in this very moment that is so big that I cannot handle?’. Our reply is usually a manageable experience. Another tip to managing anxiety is reminding ourselves that our sense of urgency is generally a figment of our imagination or of cultural norms and expectations. Everything can be done at its own pace and in its own time. There are very few things which need our immediate attention. No job, person, or project is worth making ourselves ill. If we get sick, or when we die, that job will be taken over by somebody else … the clock will keep ticking … the company will keep running … the earth will continue to spin on its axis with or without our input. We must also prevent anxiety with good nutrition, exercise, creative expression, music, light, nature, laughter, and love. We need enough sleep and a good work-life balance at the very basis. We need to reduce caffeine and toxins and anything that creates negative states of arousal in our brain and body. You can do this! You’ve got this covered! Anxiety Recap: how to manage Anxiety 1. Live Mindfully: forget about the past. Live life in the moment, as it presents itself and unfolds. You will handle tomorrow when it arrives. 2. Eat Well. Juice greens. Keep your body well nourished. Stop poisoning your body with toxins and junk. 3. Drink buckets of water – good water (alkaline mineral water) and have lots of baths or showers. 4. Take a warm magnesium drink to support your parasympathetic system. 5. Sleep. Rest. Take and make moments to relax. 6. Enjoy the simple things in life: laughter, love, song and sex. 7. Slow down: everything can wait really. 8. Enjoy nature. Smell, watch and listen to the ocean – to its natural energetic rhythm. Feel the warmth of the sun on your face and the sand on your feet. Actually taste your coffee! 9. Get creative. Express your feelings on paper, canvas, clay, cooking, gardening – use your hands. 10. Move your body. Turn that anxiety into kinetic energy with ten minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day. If your anxiety has crept up on you or become unmanageable you can also try Psychotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, Reflexology or Neurofeedback.
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