DON’T GIVE UP
I knew that my ‘Inner Worrier’ was activated by preventive anxiety and that worry wasn’t going to chill out until we know more about how we are going to come out of lockdown 2.0, so what do we do until we know what that looks like?
The uncertainty and doubts surrounding ability, business confidence and so on was becoming so powerful that it begun to override my mind’s ability to think rationally, so I knew I had to do something about it.
We’ve all heard of mindfulness, we may even practice it regularly or in my case of late, irregularly. I knew if I can adopt these known strategies to foster calm and steadiness more regularly that I will begin to see things more clearly if I just put in the work, and be still.
Sure enough, when I have turned my attention inward, there is no mistaking it - fear-based stories galore, full of questions: “What’s going happen? How are we going to do this and that? What if it no one wants to come to the studio anymore?”, and the list goes on. But then I got to thinking, what would it look like to not give up and just push forward to the best of our ability like we have always done?
I had to keep reminding myself that the voice of worry was like a one-trick pony that only knows how to provoke worry and it was time for some new tactics!
I realised the way out of negativity, was to be purposefully positive, even if I wasn’t feeling it at that moment. I needed to turn this voice inside me on its head and break the pattern so I began to redirect my attention, on purpose to the reasonable part of the mind that can be optimistic and encouraging.
Not surprisingly, the response to using language like, “You’re right where you need to be in the process / You’re on track, stay with it / Eventually it will all come together, but you’re not at that stage yet / Keep practicing, you’re doing great” brought about a feeling that felt more grounded and hopeful when repeating those more positive oriented messages.
The upside to this was that now the negative messaging was dulling down and my TRUE feelings about worth and ability were more measured and less heightened out of anxiety.
The moral of the story here is that with practice, the right tools we can bring about a state of calm. It doesn’t answer my questions about stage 4 restrictions but does help me learn to manage the anxiety of unanswered questions….
I knew that my ‘Inner Worrier’ was activated by preventive anxiety and that worry wasn’t going to chill out until we know more about how we are going to come out of lockdown 2.0, so what do we do until we know what that looks like?
The uncertainty and doubts surrounding ability, business confidence and so on was becoming so powerful that it begun to override my mind’s ability to think rationally, so I knew I had to do something about it.
We’ve all heard of mindfulness, we may even practice it regularly or in my case of late, irregularly. I knew if I can adopt these known strategies to foster calm and steadiness more regularly that I will begin to see things more clearly if I just put in the work, and be still.
Sure enough, when I have turned my attention inward, there is no mistaking it - fear-based stories galore, full of questions: “What’s going happen? How are we going to do this and that? What if it no one wants to come to the studio anymore?”, and the list goes on. But then I got to thinking, what would it look like to not give up and just push forward to the best of our ability like we have always done?
I had to keep reminding myself that the voice of worry was like a one-trick pony that only knows how to provoke worry and it was time for some new tactics!
I realised the way out of negativity, was to be purposefully positive, even if I wasn’t feeling it at that moment. I needed to turn this voice inside me on its head and break the pattern so I began to redirect my attention, on purpose to the reasonable part of the mind that can be optimistic and encouraging.
Not surprisingly, the response to using language like, “You’re right where you need to be in the process / You’re on track, stay with it / Eventually it will all come together, but you’re not at that stage yet / Keep practicing, you’re doing great” brought about a feeling that felt more grounded and hopeful when repeating those more positive oriented messages.
The upside to this was that now the negative messaging was dulling down and my TRUE feelings about worth and ability were more measured and less heightened out of anxiety.
The moral of the story here is that with practice, the right tools we can bring about a state of calm. It doesn’t answer my questions about stage 4 restrictions but does help me learn to manage the anxiety of unanswered questions….