This content mentions anxiety, which some people may find triggering.
It’s May which means its by birthday soon, well yes, that but it is also Mental Health Awareness Week from 15 to 21 May, this year the Mental Health Foundation are focusing on anxiety. In this blog I will share what anxiety is, how you can are recognise it and some tips for managing your feelings of anxiety.
It’s normal to feel anxious sometimes.
It’s how we respond to feeling threatened, under pressure or stressed: for example, if we have an exam, job interview, doctor’s appointment, or meeting someone for the first time.
Anxiety isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can spur us on, help us stay alert, make us aware of risks and motivate us to solve problems.
However, anxiety can be a problem if it affects your ability to live your life. If your anxiety is ongoing, intense, hard to control or out of proportion to your situation, it can be a sign of a mental health problem.¹ If your feelings of anxiety are not going away, are having a negative impact on your life, or often prevent you from doing things you need or want to do, seek support from your GP or healthcare professional, and the Samaritans offer emotional support 24 hours a day – in full confidence. Call 116 123 – it’s FREE or email [email protected].
I am not qualified, nor would it be appropriate for me to be offering diagnosis through this article which is why I wanted to signpost you to an organisation like the Samaritans who can offer emotional support and advice. My hope is that you come away from reading this article knowing that feeling anxious sometimes is a normal and natural part of being human, and you have some actions you can take to manage these feelings as part of your day to day life.
Do any of the following sound familiar to you?
Your thoughts are racing across your mind so fast that it does not feel possible to grab hold of one, pull it down to a place where you can give it some attention. A little like being caught in snowstorm and trying to catch single snowflake, it lands, it melts, it is gone just as another, and another lands. It can feel overwhelming.
In that moment when you feel like you just don’t have the answer that is being asked for even though in reality you do have the experience and knowledge needed because you have been doing this job or making this presentation for years. It can make us feel unsure of ourselves.
You walk into a room with your best smile on your face and you can feel your heart rate increase, breathing faster, heat rising through your body or a sudden need to go to the toilet, again. You can seem fine on the outside but panicky inside.
Maybe getting off to sleep is fine, you are so tired from the day but you find yourself awake in the early hours, working through something in your head, not really reaching a solution but if feels so important that you do solve this challenge, right now and it prevents you from falling back to sleep, or your drop off just as the alarm goes off! Not getting enough sleep can contribute to feelings of anxiety.
If these do sound familiar, you are not alone, as I have felt them myself or heard my clients and team say to me. It is normal to feel anxious sometimes but when we find that these feelings are impacting on our day-to-day life, our ability to make decisions or take action this is when listening to our bodies is important. We need to act.
Coaching can help individuals explore their feelings, with a freedom to express oneself openly, guided by insightful questions and techniques that help unlock people’s potential, and create impact positively across all areas of their life.
Coaching can help reduce overwhelm by supporting individuals to:
● understand what’s currently driving them,
● set and maintain boundaries,
● prioritise and plan work,
● find tools to manage and ease the immediate issues.
As a result of coaching, I see how people feel less anxious and stressed, with a greater sense of ease and control, leading to better time management and clearer prioritisation which results in increased impact and greater wellbeing.
Email me today, lets start a conversation about how coaching could help unlock your potential.
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems we can face. A recent mental health survey² found that a quarter of adults felt so anxious that it stopped them from doing the things they wanted to do some or all of the time. Six in ten adults feel this way, at least some of the time.
On a positive note, anxiety can be made easier to manage.
What can you do to help manage feelings of anxiety?
We all have mental health just as we do physical health, in fact they are intrinsically connected. We are on a spectrum, it’s not just a simple yes or no to having good mental health. It fluctuates in response to life events. So, we can build simple practices into our daily life that can help us manage our feelings of anxiety.
When I am working with a client, or planning a session that focuses on building people’s confidence I will keep guiding them back to ways we can look after our mind, body and soul. These are for me, the cornerstones of confidence, together they create a personal roadmap to getting back to being our best self.
Time is short I know, and I don’t have the space in this piece to share a full roadmap to managing your thoughts and feelings, so I am going to focus on one tip for each cornerstone – mind, body and soul.
- MIND – write it down:
Journalling is a great way to express your thoughts and feelings without fear of judgement. It helps you slow down and put your thoughts into perspective, a little like meditation. Try not to overthink, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t worry about spelling mistakes, let the words flow from your mind. If you are keen to keep this habit every day, set aside time to write in journal as part of your routine as you get up, or wind down.
- BODY – get moving:
If you have you ever felt an overwhelming emotional response to a minor situation? A conversation with a colleague or friend, being asked ‘could you just…’ or that moment when someone backs into the space you had your eye on! All of these leaving you like might just explode, you could start to release the emotion using one of these – dance out the emotion to your favourite music, vigorous exercise like running, spinning, skipping or even jumping for joy (keep it safe though) or some gently stretches, yoga or seated exercise.
- SOUL – spend time in nature:
Spending time in nature has a positive impact on your mental health. It can help you feel calmer and less stressed. It can be as simple as tending some flowers in a window box or going for a walk in the woods. Any amount of time doing this is good for you, but to really get the benefit, try to spend a significant period of time – maybe an hour or longer – when you can really connect with nature and immerse yourself.
If after reading these you would like to explore your thoughts and feelings further, please do take a moment to read about how you could invest in yourself with my support.
Click to read more about how I could support you
You could start today by investing just a little in a new journal. It’s your space to reflect and record what is going on for you right now, and what little actions help you feel on top of the world.
Take care, look after your mental health just like you do your physical health, every week not just during Mental Health Awareness Week.