We would always have that time when life would get the best of us. They usually come in an instant and would shake our whole life. Unfortunate events destroy and defeat us. These events can worsen the situation in our lives. When such things happen, we feel overwhelmed and unable to process anything. It sucks to think we could live happily, but it has suddenly gone. The idea of living a happy life has now deteriorated. We are now living in complete sadness and anxiety, and it’s causing us so much pain that we can’t bare at all.
When the pandemic struck, we had no choice but to limit our interactions with the people around us. We aren’t allowed to talk with people without our masks, we cannot travel overseas that easily, and there’s still that fear that you might get infected by the virus. We choose not to have too many interactions with people because of today’s situation. This current situation worsens the sadness that we might be feeling. We have no choice but for us to depend on ourselves. We are our best companions at this time.
When fear, sadness, and anxious thoughts surround us, we need to help ourselves. We need to be prepared to assist our heavy feelings. There are simple ways to help ourselves. Conclusion: there are compelling and straightforward ways to help ourselves when we badly need it. Here are some simple self-help tips that you can guide when feeling fear, sadness, and anxious thoughts.
- Just Breathe
A quick and straightforward starter for calming down is the deep inhale and exhale. Breathe in and breathe out as concisely as you can. Don’t speed up your breathing but take deep and consistent inhales and exhales. Make sure to breathe in with your nose and breathe out with your mouth.
When using this step, it can help you to inhale easier and exhale. You can use the fist method wherein you need to trace the knuckles on your fist as you inhale, and as you continue tracing your hand going back to the first knuckle, you need to exhale. Repeatedly do this step until you feel relaxed and calm.
- Expose to the Environment
After calming yourself, take a step back from whatever you are doing or stressing. If it’s a life responsibility like watching over the kids, call someone to watch over them or bring them with you. You need to expose yourself back to the environment. There’s a common Gen Z expression “touch some grass,” and we need to take this literally.
The green scenery of nature can help you calm your heart and mind. The slow yet steady blow of the wind can help you feel safe. If it’s raining, you can look over the window and see as raindrops fall lie tears of comfort. The more you expose yourself to the environment, the easier it is for you to get rid of those negative thoughts.
- Dare to Distract
Now it’s about distracting ourselves and feeling safe in our minds. You need to condition yourself to attain that calm mind. Some people use books like the Christian book by Jack Hetzel to have a refresher in their faith and keep their minds intact. Some use music that they play on Spotify to calm themselves. A lot have also used games like board games to give entertainment to themselves to feel unattached to those negative thoughts.
Whatever that activity may be, as long as you can condition yourself to feel safe, joyful, and comfortable, then these activities are helping your mind be distracted from the unwanted thoughts you are having.
- Set a Mindset Straight
In this step, we will be conditioning ourselves. We need to make ourselves feel safe and secure about what’s to happen. We need to give ourselves a “self-talk,” which can allow our minds to have a positive outlook for the future. The “self-talk” should include:
- Encouragement for ourselves.
- Compliments for the job well done.
- Some visions that we see in the future.
You can answer the questions: What good thing have I done today? What can I do to improve? How can I treat myself for the work I did today? Etc.
- Trust the Process
Now is a crucial step in this self-help guide. We need to trust the process. No rain will last for seconds; some pour down for days, weeks, and months. We can never predict the time in our lives, so we need to take care of ourselves and trust that tomorrow may be a better day or that tomorrow will be that better day we wanted. Remember that no matter how intense the storm is, it will eventually stop.
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