Posted 3/19/2010 3:57 PM (GMT 0)
melody,
Good Morning and I am going to give you a tip that you can apply to your anxiety no matter what the cause.
]To regulate anxiety on an emotional level we need to support ourselves in the same way a good and available adult would have done in the pastI.E. parents, teachers, support person. We need to soothe ourselves by being kind to ourselves, maybe using positive statements about ourselves, and telling ourselves that we will be OK and that we have done all the practical steps we could take to solve the situation.
Therefore, we need to reassure ourselves, accept that the anxiety will be there, and not panic about it. If we panic about anxiety, we get even more anxious as we build up anticipatory anxiety: we get anxious about being anxious. This can become a vicious cycle. At this point simply accept the anxiety that you're feeling right now and keep your thoughts in the present rather than letting your mind drift to dwell on all sorts of possibilities in the future. Keep reminding yourself that it is normal and natural to feel anxious.
Practice staying in the moment and stop the anticipatory anxiety in it's tracks by talking to yourself and reminding yourself that you need to stay off the anxiety merry-go-round.
Look into the online CBT posted in our resources thread as it can help you learn to stay in the moment.
Take care and gentle hugs,
Kitt