| HOW I DEAL WITH ANXIETY |

Dear Noteblair,

There has been a lot of occasions in my life that I needed to just learn how to keep it together. When your mind is going through hundreds of things it is one of the most challenging things to try to block out the negative & think with logic. To me when I panic, I stop thinking like a normal human I start thinking all the things that can go wrong, in that state I become the most negative person I can ever be.

After a lot of practice, <almost 30 years of practice> I learned how to take myself out of this state & start thinking like ME again. Because I trust the me that I am. I trust the decisions I make & I know when my mind is clear I’m wiser.

With everything happening in the world, the unknown must be the most difficult part. The fact that we don’t know what will happen even tomorrow is very scary I know…At the same time that we don’t know what the actual truth is, we are flooded with TOO MUCH information. Either from news, social media, friends, relatives, neighbors & …It can be all very overwhelming. The reality is there is too many news out there you don’t even know which one to believe & follow. I asked a poll on my stories about how many people were stress and how many are chill and more than 50% said they are stressed. Hence the reason I am writing this blog post. You ave to take care of your mind to be able to take care of your body. Hope this tips help you no only today, but everytime you have stress or anxiety.

Go offline
I couldn’t recommend this enough! going offline is the best kind of rest your mind & soul needs. Being informed is one thing but being overwhelmed is another thing. when you are crowded with different kinds of thoughts no positive news will even register in your mind because your minds negativity will lead your mind to believe otherwise. Just go offline for as long as you need to calm your mind. don’t check social media or even news. At least until you are a bit calmer.

Do what you love to do
Either it is watching Netflix, taking walk with your dog or calling your partner! Whatever you LOVE doing on a normal day to day bases do it even if it doesn’t feel right, even if you don’t feel like it. trust me you will feel better after that walk, after that bubble bath or in my case putting on a face mask & going to get a warm caramel macchiato from Starbucks.

Distance yourself
This might sound odd to you but I find distancing myself from everyone helps me calm my nerves instead of getting into arguments with people making the situation even worse. you control the damage to yourself & to others when you deal with your nerves first. Take walk, go to your room, sleep or even go window shopping. Distance yourself from anything or anyone that you might potently hurt because you are not being yourself at the moment. With this being said I don’t mean don’t ask for help if you need it. which brings me to my next point.

Ask for help if you need help
There is nothing wrong for asking for help when you need it. I’m a kind of person that I have to EVERYTHING myself when it comes to things I’m in a charge of. But it comes times that I’m literally having a mental breakdown & there is no way I can handle doing everything! If you need help just ask for it. no one around you will know you need help & no body language does not work! Just ask there is nothing wrong with anyone helping you with a task. trust me asking for help will come your nerves down so much! No one performs well under too much pressure.

Read
Specifically reading a book is the most calming, education & distracting hobbies you can adopt. if you are not a reader, I would highly recommend practicing this habit. Not only it takes you to another world, but it forces your mind to leave whatever it is in your mind & focus on reading. it is not like watching a movie that you can watch and do 10 other things. when you read you have to only read! So it takes your mind off of what is bothering you & takes you to another world.

Brain dump
I learned about this from Lauryn from the skinny confidential blog. What you do is as soon as you wake up, or when you are feeling nerves, whatever comes to your mind you just write it. It does not have to make sense or be complete sentence. you have no idea how many times this saved me from cussing someone out or giving them the nastiest attitude that I know I will regret later.

Be grateful
I always remind myself, that there are some people who are dreaming of having what I have. I have roof over my head, bed to sleep in & food to eat. Being grateful is one of the most rewarding feelings. Remind yourself how lucky you are for living this life & step back for a moment & appreciate everything you got. Gratitude is the best medicine for anxiety in my book.

Organize
It might be hard to do something when your mind is messy. but specifically organizing will help your mind to get clear. I like everything to be visually appealing & at the same time I’m a messy person. right now i have my jewelry, coffee cup, candle, flowers, snack, notebook & water bottle around me! This is too much lol Organizing your surroundings, the mail drawer or your clothes will help you take your mind off of your anxiety & a clean drawer will make you feel more accomplished.It is sometimes that simple!

Be in Nature
This one for me personally is the hardest because I’m not a nature person at all. I enjoy a once a wile beach trip but I’m more of a city girl. You don’t have to drive an hour to ocean or to a forest. Just take a walk in your neighborhood. The sun & fresh air helps your mind to calm down. when you are overwhelmed. Open up your vision & let’s your mind to be more clear.

At the end of the day, stress & anxiety are things we can’t avoid because life happens….Try your best to always remind yourself that everything will be okay <It will be> Have a positive outlook on everything even in worst scenarios your positive mind will look for a lesson in negative situation. Remind yourself that you have gone through hardships before & you came out from the other side, so you will do this time too! Do your part & let go of what you can’t control.