Monday 14 July 2014

Life | how to clear your mind



I don't know about anyone else but I'm the sort of person that worries. I worry about significant and insignificant things with equal gusto, and I worry if I have nothing to worry about. I'm constantly thinking of what needs to be done and how I'm going to make things work. This personality trait also doesn't go well with the fact that I like to be busy...busy to a point where I have to plan a slot to do my washing in. 
Often this leaves me feeling panicky about getting everything done and sorted. That at horrid feeling of not being able to breathe and having a lump in my throat occurs regularly if I let things get on top of me.  Without jumping on the bloggers anxiety bandwagon i do let myself get anxious and over stressed about small things so I've had to develop some pretty fool proof coping mechanisms. I know I'm not alone in this so I thought it might be quite handy to do a little post on how I clear my mind and tackle the tasks at hand! 

Number 1, 

The first thing I do when I feel myself becoming stressed is call my Mum. She puts things into perspective and reminds me that every problem is solvable. It doesn't have to be your mum, a boyfriend or close friend will do the trick too but sometimes just talking through what is worrying me or what I have to get done helps me to sort it in my mind. 
Often it just ends up with mum reminding me that a misplaced earring is not a viable cause for a panic attack, but it works.

Number 2, 

Write a goddam list. Once everything you think you need to do is out of your head and down on paper I like to then rearrange the list in order of priority. If I've got a particularly busy week I'll plan each day, including space for food prep, washing and me time. Once i can see that actually, everything can be done, I find it much easier to actually start. 
I love crossing things off as I go as well. It makes me feel  accomplished and more productive. 

Number 3, 

Take a deep, deep breath. Do it now, breathe in for 3, hold it at the top and release for 3. If I really feel that an attack is imminent then this helps a lot. I like to lay down, shut my eyes and concentrate on nothing but breathing if I'm really letting things get to me. Sometimes I use visualization and imagine breathing in a happy colour like yellow or pink, and breathing out the stressful colours of black or red. I don't know if this is a legit technique but it works for me. 

Number 4, 

Crack on. Things aren't going to do themselves and, sadly, I'm now an adult and have bills to pay, food shopping to do and work to go to ,so as much as I'd like to spend an entire day in bed on Pintrest (and sometimes do) it's just not viable to do every day. Once you accept this, it becomes a lot easier. 

Number 5, 

Treat yourself. Whether this is the aforementioned duvet day, an episode of Suits or a new lipstick it's so worth doing once you've finished a good portion of your jobs for that day. My favourite treats are getting in a bath with some lush products, a magazine or the #bbloggers twitter chat (hi, I'm creepy naked tweeting girl). 

No comments:

Post a Comment