top of page

7 tips to Help Navigate the storm of Stress and Anxiety

Before we begin this blog post, I want to make a quick disclaimer that I am not a professional in this field. These are helpful tips and not prescriptions, so if you ever find yourself overwhelmed with anxiety and stress, do seek professional help because metal health is a real thing and we should not try to ignore it as it is as important as physical health.


Dr Julie Smith is a clinical psychologist who has been creating social media content on mental health to raise awareness on the matter and help people who may be in need of some help. She has published books on the matter and became a bestselling author. I’ve known about her for years and found her content very helpful as she explains them in a simple manner that is easy to understand. Whilst being interviewed on a podcast, she shared 7 tips on how deal with stress and anxiety, which I will be sharing here. I personally use some of these methods, but anxiety and stress is very common amongst (but not limited to) students and employees that these tips may be helpful to you too.


1. Step Back Language

The Step Back Language simply consists of language that allows us to distance ourselves from the thought we are having. Now, this doesn’t mean that we can or should discredit them, instead, it is a method to prevent the thought from having absolute power over us. That way, the thought isn’t processed as a truth and we don’t limit ourselves to one incorrect perspective of what is going on. It also allows you to explore the thought further so that you can discover exactly why you are thinking that way. You can do this by saying “I’m having the thought that…” before saying whatever it is that is on your mind.


2. Spin the feelings wheel

This method consists of a a wheel of adjectives to help you specify what it is you are feeling rather than using more generic terms like ‘angry’ and ‘sad’. Specifying the exact feeling and naming it correctly stops you from misidentifying your emotions so that you don’t end up conditioning yourself to feel one way when, really and truly, you feel another way. Adding precision and nuance to your feelings also enable you to explore your emotions further and find the source of the emotion better as you won’t be pointing your finger in the wrong direction. I’ve attached an example of the wheel:




3. Early Warning Feeling

Now, we’ve all experienced that feeling in our gut when it comes to whatever it may be. That gut-feeling can be really helpful, especially for the sake of our protection, but it’s not always right. Your gut feeling isn’t the be-all-or-end-all so you should remain open to other moments and experiences. However, that is not an excuse to completely disregard it, just make sure that it isn’t your only reasoning when making a decision.


4. Pause the Personalisation

When a bad event occurs, we often begin to blame it on ourselves. There are a million possibilities as to why the event turned out the way it did and setbacks are a part of life so don’t blame yourself. The world doesn’t revolve around you, hence you’re not the sole cause of everything. Try to think up of all the possibilities why things would have turned out the way they did and you’ll realise that there’s nothing to worry about.


For example: you’re walking down the street and you see a friend so you wave to them with a smile and call their name. They don’t wave back though and you notice that they don’t look happy. You may think it’s because of you and that they’re not happy to see you because they’re mad at you for something you did… (see how many times I said ‘you’!) If you were to ask them why they were upset they may have said it’s because they just lost someone - or something to be less sombre - or they didn’t have their morning coffee, or they didn’t get the refund for the hideous shirt they were telling you about the other day, or… The list is endless. And none of it is your fault.


5. Drop the Mental Filter

If you tell me that you don’t have a mental filter, then you are a liar. We all tend to focus on the negative rather than the positive. It’s how newspapers make their money and how you spend the night scrolling rather than sleeping. Everyone tends to focus on the one bad comment on the video despite there being hundreds of positive ones. If someone made a mistake and did something bad to you, you suddenly forget all the nice things they did for you and so on. In this case, you are only focusing on your thoughts. Don’t mull over your negative thoughts. Think them, recognise them and put them to the side. Spend more time with your positive thoughts too instead of neglecting them.


6. Mindfulness Mental Muscle

Mindfulness has become a popular word recently. Despite it being so popular, people still tend to have the wrong perception of it. No, it does not necessarily mean a peaceful monk sat cross-legged in the forest with his eyes closed and what not. Mindfulness is focusing on the present and not letting your mind wander to anywhere else. Just take in the now. What do you hear? What do you sense? What do you feel? It doesn’t have to take hours either. Just a minute a day will do.


7. Self-Soothing Box

The self soothing box can be a physical of mental one. In it you store tools, activities, and/or strategies you can use to help you feel safe and calm down when you aren’t feeling yourself. In a physical one, you may have a perfume or a teddy bear that reminds you or someone you love or a really good time you had. Spend some time with it and involve your senses by spraying some of the perfume and smelling it or cuddling that teddy. In your mental box you may have a podcast you can listen to or a movie to watch to help you calm down. As long as the content involves your senses and brings you calm, then anything can be in that box.



So there you have it. 7 tips to help you manage your stress and anxiety a little better. Give them a shot and find which one works best for you and, like I said earlier, if things get too much and become to difficult to handle, speak to someone you trust and go seek professional help. It will be a lot more beneficial than you might think and mental health is just as important as physical health. And to end this post, here’s something that shows how mental health and physical health need to be treated equally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bor9xVnbIz8 .


That’s all from me today. Hope you enjoyed the post! And remember you really do matter.










Comments

bottom of page