Anxious Episodes
This week in Texas has felt a little like being on a rollercoaster ride as our Governor released his report to revise restrictions. As a writer, I couldn’t settle on the cliche of a rollercoaster so, unable to think of my own word picture, turned to my trusty Thesaurus to come up with an idea. The result: switchback or soap opera. Whilst I could visually imagine us needing switchbacks to get to the top of this COVID-mountain, the idea of a soap opera required more lateral thinking so that is where I let my thoughts wander. Where am I going with this you ask? Sit back, the episode is about to begin.
The definition of a soap opera according to Wiktionary is, “a radio or television serial about the lives of melodramatic characters, which are often filled with strong emotions, highly dramatic situations and suspense.” I couldn’t help but think of our news stations that currently feel a little like reruns of Days of our Lives. Coverage of the COVID pandemic is filled with drama, miscommunication and uncertainty, leaving many of us anxious to see what happens in the next episode. Anxious. This is a word I hear several times a day - from my daughter, my friends, and in my groups. When I slowed down this weekend, enough to hear my own thoughts, anxiety popped up for me too.
Anxiety is described as the unhelpful thinking patterns we experience when our mind fixates on threat, uncertainty and negativity.
No-one likes feeling anxious, but we forget that it is the brain’s automatic survival mechanism and therefore not something we can easily control or switch off. If anxiety is described as the unhelpful thinking patterns we experience when our mind fixates on threat, uncertainty and negativity; then it’s no wonder that our current COVID news-diet is the perfect Petri dish for its growth. So what can we do? Firstly, we can learn to identify our patterns of thought, and then work on finding healthy ways to respond. We are prone to five ways of experiencing anxiety that I’d like to outline here:
Threat-scanning: when your mind searches the environment for what you fear (consciously or subconsciously). This could look like frequently checking your body for Covid-19 symptoms, or obsessively scanning the news for updates.
Catastrophizing: when your mind jumps to worst-case scenarios. You feel chest tightness and think you have COVID-19, or your mind gives you the mental image of losing your job or even the people you love.
Hypothetical Worry: worry is completely normal and only becomes unhelpful when you focus on hypothetical worries (what-if scenarios typically about things you have no control over) instead of practical worries (things you do have control over that can help you be more pro-active). “What if someone gets too close to me at the supermarket and I catch it? What if the government lifts restrictions and we get a second wave of infections?”
Emotional reasoning: when your mind tells you your emotions reflect reality. While emotions can act as helpful messengers, they are often not reliable. “I feel scared, so I must be in danger.”
Fortune Telling: when your mind interprets predictions as facts. “We’re lifting the restrictions too soon and we’re all going to get sick.”
Learning how to recognize and reduce anxiety is an extremely helpful life skill and will help you develop resiliency. So how do we go about doing this?
Plan your information diet: check your trusted news source once a day, balancing it with uplifting news sources. Consider a digital detox day once a week or limiting your time on social media.
Focus on your sphere of influence: if you are prone to hypothetical worry, redirect your attention to things within your control. Make a list with 2 columns: within my control (eating well, exercising, my routine, following latest advice, cultivating connection) and outside of my control (other people’s decisions, the government’s actions, the state of the healthcare system). Focus your energy on the list within your control.
Learn to tolerate uncertainty: uncertainty is an inescapable part of life, and the sooner we become more comfortable with it, the sooner we can reduce mental turmoil.
Challenge your thoughts: broaden your focus to include the bigger picture. Stop to THINK: is this thought True? Is it Helpful? Does it Inspire me or have the opposite effect? Is it Necessary to act on it? Is the thought Kind? If not, what would be a kinder thought?
Use Distraction: if your mind continues to spiral with unhelpful thoughts, have healthy attention-grabbing activities on standby to redirect your energy. Learn some basic yoga poses, do a jigsaw puzzle, browse healthy recipes, enroll in an online tutorial, do some mindful coloring, make a bucket list.
Choosing how we respond to anxiety is one of the tools that will help us build resilience during these uncertain COVID times - as well as any other future soap opera we find ourselves taking part in. So, while we brace ourselves for a new episode of the same saga, focus on your own role and try not direct the other actors. Honor their performance, even if you don’t approve of their acting, and perhaps we can all hope for a happy ending.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
William Shakespeare