TGG011: Breaking anxiety
FOCUS OF THE WEEK: Breaking Anxiety in 9 Steps
Tha Warmup
Mass shootings. Hurricanes. Student debt. The United States of America has become the United States of Anxiety.
If you are someone whose anxiety gets your heart pounding, fills your head with doomsday visions, and interferes with your concentration -- you’re not alone. According to research, approximately 40 million American adults suffer from an anxiety disorder each year. That’s 18% of the population.
Making the problem tougher is the steady array of products and services offering antidotes to the daily stressors of life. From jade eggs to relaxing infrared saunas, there’s no shortage of “wellness” options one can turn to in times of uncertainty.
The good news: proven techniques for managing anxiety do exist and they don’t cost you a penny.
Where do we begin?
First we need to distinguish between normal anxiety and anxiety disorders. University of Cambridge anxiety researcher Olivia Remes explains, “Normal anxiety is an emotion that we all get when we're in stressful situations. For example, let's say you're out in the woods, and you come face-to-face with a bear. This will probably make you feel a little bit anxious, and you'll probably want to start running like crazy. This anxious feeling that you get is good because it protects you, it saves you, and it makes you hightail it out of there... Anxiety helps us meet our deadlines at work and deal with emergencies in life, but when this anxiety emotion is taken to the extreme and arises in situations which don't pose a real threat, then that's when you might have an anxiety disorder.” Think: stress level 11, difficulty focusing, excessive worrying.
Ok...
Which brings me to the good news. How you handle anxiety has a direct impact on the amount of anxiety you experience. For anyone with some nervousness, stress, or anxiety: by modifying how you cope with your anxiety you can modify the anxiety itself.
Thanks for the pep talk. How do I actually manage my anxiety?
Here are some ways real people overcome and manage anxiety…
1. Meditation is a must. Keep in mind that meditation is a skill: the skill to do literally nothing at all. Like any skill, it develops with practice. Begin by incorporating five minutes of breathwork or meditation each day. Consider using an app. Don’t underestimate the potential upside of nothingness. Today, those of us in the West are so go-go-go that we’ve lost touch with La Dolce Far Niente, an Italian phrase which translates to the sweet idleness. Anne Lamott once noted, "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."
2. Unplug from everything. My phone was the first thing I looked at in the morning and the last thing before bed. Then I realized that watching cult documentaries and scrolling through airbrushed images of Australian bikini models probably isn’t a healthy way to end the day. Now I turn on Do Not Disturb an hour before bed. And when I wake, the first thing I do is open all the windows to allow sunlight and fresh air into my room. Hit pause on the infinite flow of stimulation and give yourself the daily reset you need.
3. I mean evvvverything. Phones aren’t the only thing we need a break from. For many of us, our greatest source of anxiety is the news. We go to the gym and the treadmill TV displays some red-faced analyst yelling about housing prices. We scroll through Twitter and see images of a bridge collapse that we can do nothing to fix. We need to start taking control over what enters our consciousness. After all, you are what you think. Swap CNN and Twitter for long investigative articles and in-depth books. News flashes and politics are temporary. Art, knowledge, friendship - these are timeless.
4. Sleep like a baby. According to the CDC, one in three adults doesn't get enough sleep. “It seems as if we are now living in a worldwide test of the negative consequences of sleep deprivation,” says Robert Stickgold, director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition at Harvard Medical School. We chug our third coffee of the day and pinch ourselves to stay awake during 4pm meetings. Considering sleep may be more essential to our health than food, it’s imperative to prioritize your zzz's. Set a strict bedtime, get your room nice and cool, plug your phone into an out-of-reach outlet, curl up beneath a gravity blanket - do whatever you gotta do in order to create optimal snoozing conditions.
5. Say no to sh*t. Even if we want to do everything, packing our schedules with activity after activity isn’t healthy. It’s why we get so excited when Jason in Marketing cancels the lunch meeting he’d set up to “pick your brain.” When I let demands pile up, I get a knot in my stomach and find myself unable to be fully present.
6. Buttttt say yes when it comes to caring for yourself. Idris Elba doesn't turn the tablesbecause he's short on cash, just as Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't pursue shoe-making because his former career was unsuccessful. Maybe it’s dancing, maybe it’s cutting out dairy. Figure out the interests and passions that make you feel alive and make time for them.
7. Sweat it out! Come on, you knew this one was coming. Exercise every damn day. Working out reduces stress and anxiety, while providing countless other benefits. No more excuses for missing workouts. My brother literally blocks an hour on his calendar every day just for exercise. He treats that hour as importantly as any of his work calls or meetings. Results, no excuses!
8. Speak up when you need to. When sh*t hits the fan, don’t be afraid to lean on friends and family. They’re in our lives because they have seen us at our worst and love us nonetheless. Though it might seem daunting, it's important to identify who you can lean on, meet with them in person, and tell them you're having a rough day. Those who care about you want the best for you.
9. Invest in your tribe, because at the end of the day, they’re all we’ve got. As noted in an earlier issue, the best predictor of happiness is relationships and time spent with family and friends. We are happier when we act with others in mind. Try volunteering, sharing knowledge with those who need it, and acting with future generations in mind. I like to think about a quote from The Bucket List: “You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you.”