Breathe in, breathe out!

We’ve all been there, everything around you is closing in, and you can’t breathe. This was me about a week ago. I’ve struggled for a long time with anxiety and learning how to control it for myself. There are many contributing factors to my anxiety, and I have gotten good at masking or making it seem like I am excellent when I am not. I want to share with you some ways that I have learned to manage my anxiety and hopefully give and learn some tips from you.

I can’t picture a time in my life that anxiety wasn’t around, it’s been very present in my life for a long time. Over time, I have come to realize where my anxiety stems from and what in my environment can trigger it. This process for self-discovery has been extended and scary. Although I am a huge advocate for counseling or therapy, I am still a little scared to retake the plunge. I went when I was little, and I wasn’t there for it. I have thought/researched therapist to see but haven’t taken the next step, yet. Hopefully, I will, but in the meantime, I have done some self-work that has been working to help me recognize and cope.

I have a background in Special Education and have done a lot of work in teaching skill and curriculums that help students use coping skills when they are feeling upset, anxious, scared, etc. From conferences to self-research my understanding of anxiety has come a long way and so have my skills in coping skills-healthy ones. Anxiety manifests it’s self differently in everyone so they way that I am describing mine may not be how yours or someone close acts. Also, I am not a licensed medical professional, and I am sharing what has worked for me, and hopefully it can help you, but it may not work for everyone so please seek out a professional if you need it.
It is hard to even put into words sometimes what I am feeling. I find myself going into deep places of my mind and circling over and over about a situation that I don’t have control over.

This year I started a new job in which I am working more with adults than kids, I think working with adults is WAYYY harder than kids. The first two months of my job were horrible. I was in a constant state of just panic, questioning and fear. I couldn’t get a grip on my thoughts, and I would find myself just stuck and unable to focus on what I needed to do because my mind was racing with self-deprecating thoughts. On my drive home, my chest was tight, and it was difficult to breathe. I couldn’t, at the time, articulate what was happening. Things wouldn’t leave my mind, and I couldn’t sleep. I knew it was anxiety and I needed to center myself so that I could be my best.

Centering myself has taken me many years to get and be okay with admitting that I am not okay. For me, realizing this makes it real, and sometimes I am not ready for it to be real. I knew though if I didn’t address what was happening it would only get worse. I started revisiting what I would do for a student who was struggling with anxiety. First, I would ask questions, trying to get the student to identify what they were feeling and what was causing it. I started questioning myself- why do you think this? Is there any evidence to prove this? Then taking deep breathes focusing using figure 8 breathing method (breathe in on one side of the picture and out on the other). Most of the time this is enough for me to manage the anxiety in public. What I do at home is how I get myself back to the baseline.

At home, I typically do 3 things to re-center or get myself back to the baseline. One of the things I do is sit, either on the couch or on my bed for about 20-45 minutes and watch tv, for me it becomes mindless, and my thoughts get distracted plus I am a sucker for reality tv. I also journal, journaling has been an easy way for me to manage my anxiety. I can get all the thoughts circling in my head on to paper, and when I read it back I start to notice my body relaxing, and my breathing becomes more natural. I recently started bullet journaling- I have tried to replace this with watching tv, not really working, yet. I also workout, I am not as consistent about this, but I am starting again. It allows me to get a sweat on but clears my mind of the day. Doing these three things help support me being centered and ready to handle the next day.

Some days managing my anxiety is easy and others when it is hard, and I break down, but I am working on it and taking steps to help me be the best version of myself. I rely on the people I love to pull me through when it is especially bad. Reach out to loved ones, let them know you are struggling even if they don’t have any tips just knowing you are not alone is sometimes all you’ll need.

Many of us struggle with anxiety or are dealing with lots of stress. How do you manage anxiety or stress? Share so we can all learn from one another and continue the path of advocating for mental health!

Honestly Elise