Don’t Panic!
Help! It’s Panic Day and I’m not even close to being ready for it…
This holiday is not about panic attacks or panic disorder which is serious and affects 2-3% of the population. Today is the day to examine how we may over-react to the stress in our everyday lives and to find strategies that will keep us focused and healthy.
You know the over-reactions that we are talking about. We even have sayings that go with them… such as don’t cry over spilled milk… Or don’t make mountains out of mole hills…. And don’t lose your cool.
We need to understand that anxiety and stress have their place in our life. They help us to avoid danger. It keeps us thinking and being creative. And they keep us on our toes so that we don’t become complacent.
When Is The Point Where We Should Worry?
The point at which worry and anxiety become unhealthy is when they stop pushing us to act and move forward. This panic can be paralyzing and prevent us from thinking clearly enough to find the best strategies to deal with the source of our anxiety.
Beverly’s Hot Tips On How To Build Resilience and For Celebrating Panic Day:
- Listen to the way that you describe the situations that you find yourself in. Do you use extreme-type words? Do you awful-ize everything? Try to choose the words that you say and think carefully. Extreme words have an impact on how we feel, which can cause even more stress.
- Evaluate how you are feeling in relation to the situation. Are you feeling helpless or hopeless? On a scale of 1-10 how strong are your feelings?
- Notice what happens to your body when you describe and feel this way. Where does it hit you the most? Does your heart rate increase or breathing get faster? Do your muscles tense up? If so, try different relaxation techniques to combat that anxious and panic feeling so that they don’t get stronger or more extreme.
- Evaluate the situation to see what options you have available to help you deal with the situation immediately and in the long-term. Keep yourself moving forward in the problem solving mode and the anxiety will be kept in check.
- Release valves let the pressure off. What is your release? Sometimes we need a quick strategy to release the anxiety so that we can start to problem solve. This may include a good scream, a run, or a round or two on the punching bag.
Sometimes that pent up energy just needs to be dealt with before logic can take over. Click to tweet
Contact Beverly about hosting a mental health workshop for your teams on how to prevent burnout in the workplace and other mental health training. Discover tips to deal with stress and encourage positive stress management techniques!
If you have some strategies to share – comment on this posting!
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