How to Lower Your COVID-19 Anxiety ⋆ Earth and Water

I know things are scary right now. With the constant bombardment of the news with all of the minute by minute updates on the corona virus, how can we not be stressed out about it? It’s created a whole category of “COVID-19 Anxiety”

Yes it’s a big deal. Yes it should be taken seriously, but we have to learn how to detach ourselves from the rest of the world so that we may work to maintain a sense of calm and peace and with it, control over ourselves.

When we’re stressed and anxious, we can’t:

Think properly
Make good decisions
Maintain healthy immune system function
Care for our loved ones efficiently

Our COVID-19 anxiety may be pushing us over our stress limitations and can make us more likely to contract the virus and make it more difficult to fight if we do.

Most of us have never lived through such a global event. It’s terrifying and disrupting the only life we’ve ever known. We don’t know what the following days, weeks or months will have in store for us and we’re only just getting started with understanding the world we’re now living in.

It’s completely understandable that we would have some COVID-19 anxiety. Now is the time, however, to avoid the over stimulation that comes from the constant updates and focus within.

I encourage you not to cut yourself off completely. It is absolutely important that we stay updated on the happenings so that we can work together to defeat this common enemy.

But be careful to how much this is stealing your focus. To maintain a sense of composure, it can’t consume 100% of our time and energy. We have to give some to ourselves and other positive things in life.

A COVID-19 anxiety lowering practice of mindfulness

Mindfulness in our actions and lifestyles is of obvious importance. Staying aware of what you’re touching when you’re out and about, not touching your face, washing your hands frequently and using a paper towel to touch doors and the like are all things that everyone is quick to tell you.

Momentum flows where attention goes and from there it grows. We need to be mindful of where we’re placing our attention. Is it on the constant updates, the fear of the unknown and the endless “What ifs”?

Or are you focusing on yourself and how you can do everything in your power to keep you and your family safe and in doing so, become a part of the solution rather than feeding the panic and fear of COVID-19?

Place your focus on:

The present moment
What you can do to help
Taking care of yourself and your family
Hobbies and activities you enjoy
Reading
Learning something new
Checking in with friends and family
Spending time in nature
Cleaning and organizing your home

By all means, stay updated but there’s no reason for you to keep your attention there indefinitely. Checking the news twice a day is plenty enough for you to learn all that you need to know. You could probably get by with even once a day. Friends and family will inform you if there’s something important you need to know.

If you’re having an COVID-19 anxiety attack

Take a step back and engage your senses.

What do you see?
What do you hear?
What does your body feel touching it?
Do you smell anything? Take a deep slow breath.
Is there anything around you can taste?

Focus on your breathing.

Inhale as deeply as you can, into the belly, not the chest.
Hold for a few seconds until you feel the need to release.
Release slowly through the nose or with a sigh
Release tension and relax your body as you exhale
Hold for a moment until you feel the need to inhale
Repeat

In case your anxiety is getting to you pic.twitter.com/ax9pQ1E0xW
— S.S.Blake 🌙 Confidence Coach (@Earthand_Water) November 20, 2018

Take 5 deep breaths and repeat an affirmation:

I am safe
I am ok
I am strong
I am healthy
I am a warrior
I am calm

Practice your deep breathing. It calms the nervous system. Most of the time when my anxiety attacks, I notice my breathing has become shallow during my lack of consciousness surrounding it. Deepen your breaths. Slow and even.

Drop your shoulders away from your ears. Straighten your back & sit up straight. Take a deep breath in and feel it run the length of your spine, down into the earth, tethering you to it.

You are calm. You are peaceful. You are grounded.

Repeat as needed.

Coping is a Mindset Game

Everything starts and ends in the mind. Managing anxiety is just a “win the battle” type of thing. To really win the war and keep it from popping up, you have to address the root causes and rework them into something more beneficial.

Take a moment to really sit with your COVID-19 anxiety.

What beliefs do you have tied to it?
Are these beliefs absolute truths?
Are these beliefs helpful or harmful?
Are these beliefs optimistic or pessimistic?
How can you rework them into some more positive beliefs?

It’s important to find more positive beliefs that you agree to be truth. It won’t work if you’re lying to yourself.

If your nonhelpful, anxiety inducing beliefs are something like:

People die from this
Supplies will run out
The economy will tank
Loss of income
The virus mutating

Let’s turn it into something that looks like:

Not everyone dies from this
The internet gives us access to knowledge to find other ways. I can adapt and learn.
The economy has tanked before, it’ll suck but we’ll find ways to move forward. Maybe it won’t.
There is always more money to be made, things will work themselves out. Sacrifices may need to be made but we will survive which is all that matters.
I will keep doing my best to protect myself and my family and I trust that my best is good enough.

Sometimes in life there are no good options. Sometimes our options are “This crappy situation” or “That crappy situation” and we just have to decide which

To explore more ways of lowering anxiety, sign up for the free series below.

Another thing that recently helped me calm down about our global pandemic is this video by Mic the Vegan. He goes over some of the physics and relations they’ve found to the climate in correlation with the virus.

In some cases, ignorance is bliss. In other, the more information you have on something, the better you can prepare and avoid the thing.

Emotional health check in. How are you doing in light of things in the world? Are you having some COVID-19 anxiety? How has it effected your life? Tell us in the comments below.

Join the FB Group