Write off your anxiety by journaling
In the post I put up last Wednesday, I suggested that you “grab a pen and some paper, and write it out.” One of the reasons that writing things down works is that it gets that shit out of your head and onto a piece of paper.
Some of those fears and anxieties will not be able to stand the harsh light of day, and you can immediately kiss those goodbye. As for the others . . . well, better the devil you know, as the saying goes. Something bad you know about and are facing is better than something vague, unknown, and scary.
Try a brain dump
Writing down the stuff that is worrying you can be cathartic. It can also allow you to prioritize things, establish boundaries, create a to-do list, and more. But only if you write that ish down.
Try a brain dump, which is described more fully in this earlier post. Get it all out, then use those pages to figure out what to deal with, and how to deal with it.
Try this self-coaching exercise
The idea here is that you write down what’s upsetting you, in as much detail as possible. What’s happening in your life, what is upsetting you, what your fears are, and so forth. With anxiety, it is often not what’s happening just now that is causing stress: it’s what might happen in the future.
That being the case, the next step is to write down the next possible steps in the story. Start with your worry today (for example, “I’m worried about money”), and then write down what you think might happen next.
Perhaps your anxiety is telling you a story like “even though I am currently able to work from home, I worry that my company might lay me off.” Okay. Follow that trail. Don’t jump straight to “I’ll be homeless and living on the street”, which is, by the way, a suuuuuper common fear among women. It’s also usually unlikely, or a long way off.
Instead of jumping to a worst-case scenario, figure out what would happen next if your company laid you off. Would you apply for unemployment? Do you have savings, investments, or assets to help you through? Could you find other employment? Do you have belongings you could sell to bring in cash? What other resources might you be able to draw on?
Keep asking yourself “what next?” or “and then what?” until you hit the end of the line.
Once you’ve done this part, go back and look at what you’ve written. Now that all that emotional stuff is written out, you can assess the likelihood and probability of things. Perhaps, once you think of it, being laid off isn’t that likely, or wouldn’t last for long. Now that you know you have steps you could take, it might be that you feel less stressed overall.
I hope you are enjoying all of these free tips and resources. If you would prefer to have them all collected up and printed out, I’ve collected everything up into an e-book entitled Lower Your Anxiety, which is available for purchase.
