Feeling Anxious or Worried? My Strategy for Managing Low Moods with Grace

This past week I have heard my clients say some pretty amazing things:

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“I have been so, so busy and I’m still getting compliments on my calmness.”

“I have had so much going on this week but I have never felt overwhelmed.”

“I had a frustrating situation happen at work but I didn’t let it get to me, fester, and make me angry like it normally would.”

Wow!

I LOVE helping others feel more calm, quiet their mind, and enjoy life more.

But I want to be clear about one thing:

I am not naturally a calm person!

Quite the opposite, actually.

I am prone to overthinking, stress, worry, and anxiety.

And I used to be a high-functioning very anxious busy person.

But something changed.

When I notice worry, stress, and anxiety starting to creep in, I don’t let it take me over.

For example, this past weekend I noticed I was starting to feel anxious.

What I used to do when I felt this way is try and ‘figure it out’.

I would do a lot of thinking about it and ask myself:

“Why am I feeling anxious? What do I need to go out and fix or solve so that I don’t have to feel this way anymore?”

And of course a lot of self judgement would come in too and I would think:

“What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I figure this out? Why am I acting like this?”

But the more I stewed on it and tried to figure it out, the more it would grow. I would feel more anxious, with more mental processing. And the more I thought about it, the more my state-of-mind would continue to decline in a vicious cycle.

Do you remember that Pass the Present game from childhood birthday parties?

It’s when the kids sit in a circle with one wrapped present with multiple wrapped layers. While music is playing the kids have to pass the present around the circle. When the music stops, the child holding the present gets to unwrap one layer of the present and keep the toy. Then the music starts again, and the present gets passed around for the next layer to be unwrapped.

This is what the beginning of what starting to feel anxious is like.

I can notice the first few signs that I’m starting to slip back into my habit of feeling anxious. I might notice I’m restless, my thoughts are busy, and it’s hard for me to relax.

If I focus on it and do a lot of thinking about it, it’s as if I unwrap another layer and it becomes worry. Then I keep thinking about it and it becomes stress. Then I keep thinking about it and it becomes fear, tension, upset.

But now with how I know the mind really works, I can see that I don’t have to unwrap those bad feelings.

The first thing most people do when they feel stressed, anxious, frustrated, or upset is to do more thinking about it.

But this has the opposite effect we want as the more we think about it the more we continue to unwrap those bad feelings and get stuck there.

I know now that if I leave anxious thoughts and feelings alone and let them just be there, without trying to figure it out, they will pass through all on their own.

Just because we have a negative thought, emotion, or feeling, doesn’t mean that we have to give it our attention.

And if we don’t give it our attention, it will pass through all on its own.

Then we’ll return to mental clarity. We’ll be able to face whatever is causing us to feel anxious with a clear mind.

I love helping others with this not because I am a naturally calm and focused person, but because I am someone who is very busy minded and prone to stress and anxiety AND I have found a way out so that I can live in a calm and clear mind and enjoy life more.

I can see that just because I have anxious thoughts doesn’t mean that I have to be an anxious person.

And I love learning as much as I can about all of this to first help me be my best self, and then turn around and help others do the same.

If I can do it, you can do it too,

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Tracey

Tracey Gazel?

Consultant?| Coach | Author | Speaker?

Rising?Higher?Consulting?Inc.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/tracey-gazel/ ?

https://traceygazel.com/

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P.S. Have you accessed my free workshop on How to Quiet Racing Thoughts yet? You can listen to the recording by visiting my website at https://traceygazel.com/