World Mental Health Day, Owning Your Anxiety
So for World Mental Health Day, I wanted to write about some tips that I have used to help deal with my anxiety disorder. I read Caroline Foran’s amazing book called; “Own It.: Make Your Anxiety Work For You”, which is a book that goes over different ways to live with your anxiety.
*Mental health day should be everyday not just one, I like to make podcast episodes called “Mental Health Year” so we can continue to talk about mental health daily ❤.* Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nana-tingz/id1524578079
Tips On Handling My Anxiety
- Stimulants
Anxiety can sometimes come out of left field even when we are aware of ourselves! Triggers are a big part of anxiety and can have us feeling ok then feeling weird and stressed. The fight or flight feeling can come in hot and intensely! We tend to forget that our daily life can have triggers. Such as; caffeine, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, restless nights, over socializing etc. Personally for me, when I have way too many espressos, my brain is wired too much and I start over thinking everything and react instead of respond. Alcohol is also a big trigger for me, being hungover, dehydrated and tired is the perfect storm of me being anxious all day. Being aware is the key to seeing what you can do in your life to decrease any of these stimulants that my have an effect on your anxiety. - Different Anxiety Mind Traps
So there can be different kinds of anxiety mind sets that get you in a cycle and are all connected to each other:
A. Catastrophic, is when we take a moment, conversation or disagreement and think that it is the end of the world! Catastrophic thinking can lead to an automatic fight or flight response and have our bodies and minds going into emergency mode!
B. Filtering, talk about Inspector Gadget! This is when we filter and focus only the negative part of things. Say there is a constructive conversation with your friends but they make one comment about something we can work on etc, if we don’t agree, we can magnify that comment and then only focus on the negative and start building up more anxious thoughts.
C. Personalization, this is when we take everything as an attack or personally. I happen to do this a lot when I have too much coffee or my anxiety is not fully together, while texting and I do not know the persons tone and something may seem harsh, I will automatically think its personal. This one is tricky especially if you filter only negative parts!
D. Polarizing Thinking, this is when we think there is only a right or wrong answer. Not everything is black and white and a lot of people have their own mental health journeys and there are so many different levels to answers and needs of humans. We should try to have a grey or multiple color mind set so we dont react harshly. - Personality vs Anxiety
Caroline brings up that when you want to do something and you have skeptical thoughts and then you start forming anxious thoughts and try to convince yourself to not go to an event or cancel a trip etc… You should ask yourself, am I scared of this? or do I not want this? Because I personally don’t or because my anxiety has me worried? Having this inner conversation will help you differentiate what you really want vs what you are afraid of, due to anxiety. - This Is A Forever Journey
Having the mindset that anxiety will go away forever and focusing on the past can be triggering. Mental health is a forever journey and accepting your anxiety and knowing that you are a work in progress is so empowering. - Social Comparison
JOMO! The joy of missing out! We get so caught up in trying to be like someone or seeing others have a “better time” when we just want to stay in and eat ice cream (ok or maybe it’s just me haha), that we can forget that this is good for our mental health. It is ok to stay in just as its ok to go out. Our capitalist society is built on FOMO (fear of missing out) and so is social media. A lot of humans get caught up in the FOMO lifestyle and then they don’t realize why they are so exhausted and have mental health triggers. I believe more JOMO and less FOMO can help our mental health ❤. - Ways To Manage Anxiety
A. Fact or Opinion, when having an internal conversation similar to Personality vs Anxiety, you can ask your anxious thought whether it’s a fact or opinion? Most likely it is an opinion, if there is no fact, then you can continue doing what you want to do. Hey, let’s say it’s hiking, you start anxiously forming the worst thoughts, fact check it and hey, maybe you had a blast and survived the day! This is a strong tool to use.
B. Therapy, talking to someone objectively is amazing, having a listening ear will lead you to the road of happiness ❤.
C. SLEEP!
D. Diet, more tea and water, less coffee, limit alcohol intake, meditate more, exercise more (don’t over exercise and stress your body!), dance, do what makes you happy, your gut is your second brain, make sure you are ingesting healthier things and what is good for you and your mental health.
Mental health is a forever journey, keep pushing forward, stay aware and know that you are an amazing human! Some of the most amazing people on this Earth are going through their own mental health journeys. Keep up the self work!
Love, Antonio
“Own It.: Make Your Anxiety Work For You”: https://www.amazon.com/Own-Make-Your-Anxiety/dp/1615195610
Free anxiety attack helplines and resources that are available include:
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline: 1–800–950-NAMI (6264) The staff at NAMI are well-trained to answer questions on a wide range of mental health issues, including anxiety. Available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, this organization provides free information and referrals to treatment programs, support groups, and educational programs. NAMI also offers help for family members, information about jobs programs, and connections to legal representation in your area.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1–800–273-TALK (8255) If severe anxiety is causing you to experience suicidal thoughts, don’t hesitate to call this free, 24-hour crisis intervention hotline. Counselors can help you ease your anxiety and get to the clear headspace you need to seek help. There are separate hotline numbers for Spanish speakers: 1–888–628–9454; the hard of hearing: 1–800–799–4889; and veterans: 1–800–273–8255. You can also chat with a crisis volunteer live on their website.
Related podcast episode:
More of my work: antonioliranzo.com/links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antonioiliranzo/
Supporting podcast episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/world-mental-health-day-owning-your-anxiety/id1524578079?i=1000538110996
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7klwfF1BgswhpvUTWcjMVK?si=4IRm2CFNSzi_PGPU2Eoa7Q&dl_branch=1
