5. Limit Your Consumption Of News Reports When You’re Feeling Anxious
Tempting as it can be to constantly check on the status of COVID-19 or any other existing crisis, chances are that you won’t miss anything significant by closing down your news feed and limiting your checks to every few hours. If you want to stop feeling anxious and vulnerable, limit your consumption of news reports.
In a blog that she wrote for parents who are trying to manage their own and their kids’ coronavirus anxiety, psychologist Rebecca Kennedy puts it this way, “Right now, we are faced with a deluge of information, but most of the information is the same: more uncertainty and waiting. Flooding ourselves with reminders of the uncertainty only increases our panic.”
Also Read 7 Words To Overcome Your Anxiety
6. And Finally, Look For Something Positive In The Experience
Always look for something positive in the experience whether it’s the opportunity to spend quality time with your family, a moment for reconnecting with friends, or a chance to get involved in an activity you haven’t been able to devote time to recently. That’s the best way to cope with anxiety.
My Italian friend shared a poem by Mariangela Gualtieri, an Italian poet, part of which I’ll share with you, although unfortunately, it hasn’t yet been translated into English, and I’m sure that Google Translate and I have butchered the beauty of it.
This is just part of two stanzas of her powerful poem—I’m giving it to you in Italian and in my poor translation:
There is gold, I think, in this strange time.
Maybe there are gifts.
Gold nuggets for us. If we help each other.
Look at the sky,
dyed dead ocher. Bake bread for the first time.
Look closely at a face. Sing a child to sleep.
Shake another hand with your hand,
feel the strong connection. That we are together.
One organism. We carry the whole of our species
within us. We save it inside ourselves.
It can be hard to be optimistic while also being realistic in frightening times, and of course, it’s important not to simply ignore the realities that are going on. But perhaps a little optimism is just what the doctor ordered. That, and staying in touch with people who can help us find ways to feel a little bit saner in the midst of the panic and anxiety that are floating all around us.
Talk to your loved ones, your friends, your colleagues, and even people you don’t know very well, including some of the people who don’t have the luxury of being able to work from home. Remember that they’re feeling anxious too. By reaching out and connecting to them, you may even find yourself feeling better.
*names and identifying info changed to protect privacy
copyright@fdbarth2020
Try these coping techniques when you are feeling anxious and vulnerable and let us know in the comments below if you find them helpful and valuable.
References:
50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food, by Susan Albers
Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives -- How Your Friends' Friends' Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do, by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Written by: F. Diane Barth, L.C.S.W Originally appeared on:Psychology Today Republished with permission
