ANXIETY - STOP THE WORLD FOR A MINUTE!

For some people, anxiety is a mental disorder and they need meds to keep the anxious feelings under control. I get that. I'm on meds for depression and sometimes anxiety triggers the depression.

When I get anxiety, I start cancelling things. It's like a mild panic and my (irrational) reaction at the time is to bail out on whatever the plans are. Even activities I was looking forward to!

I hate it when people bail on me. It's a trigger for depression. When people cancel on me, it's probably too late for me to do something else. I try to remember that when I cancel my plans that involve other people.

Another trigger for anxiety is being too busy. I'm generally quite organized but too many activities gives me anxiety. I get cranky and sweaty and negative.

My psychologist showed me that I need to pace myself. "You can't handle the busyness now, like you used to."  So, now I do three things to attempt to control a busy life. (If you have anxiety with life's activities, one of these things might work for you.)

1 - When I schedule I make sure I don't have too many things night after night. I need a night off. If I'm out of the house Monday and Tuesday nights, I need to leave Wednesday open.

2 - But sometimes I can't control everything. Say, a concert Monday, a family dinner Tuesday, a business meeting Wednesday, an out of town appointment Thursday, a friend visit on Friday, a station event Saturday and a Sunday church speaking engagement. (This is an actual example).

When this happens I look at each individual activity and remind myself, "Ya, I really do want to do that on Monday, and see them on Tuesday."  If I look at each activity by itself, I don't panic because I chose to do each for a reason.

3 - Lastly, as often as possible, I avoid planning anything on Mondays and Fridays. They tend to take care of themselves.

These things work for me. How bout you?