What do I do...

It’s no good me going round handing out advice to people about how they can do less in their lives and that doing so will make things easier unless I can actually do it myself. I am a believer in “Walking the Walk”, setting by example and leading from the front. So with that in mind, these next few posts will detail some of the strategies I use to stay sane and mentally and physically healthy in my day to day work and life. All of these strategies fall directly in line with the core Drumnosis philosophy of Being Better by Doing Less. Removal of stressors in any situation is the key to successfully conquering anxiety. 

A bit of background...

I came into being a therapist as a result of having struggled with depression for over twenty years.  I am now finally free of depression and able to live a very happy life. As much as it was a dreadful experience, it taught me everything I now use to help others. (I will cover my full recovery details in a later post)

Let’s start with what I feel to be my most important mechanism for dealing with anxiety: Exercise. 

Yes the dreaded “E” word. I lift weights. I run, cycle, row and cross train. I play drums. The problem with exercise is that it conjures images of huge sweaty men hauling huge amounts of weight, which puts people off, particularly women. 

Rule number one when choosing exercise is make sure you LIKE IT! Seriously. I do all that stuff because I LIKE IT. I look forward to training. It is a joy, not a chore. Forget what the Internet says is best for you. If you like to walk, walk. If you like cricket, play cricket.Because if you LIKE IT you will DO IT. Simple really.  If you aren’t sure, TRY IT and see. If something isn’t right for you, SWITCH. You don’t have to get it right immediately. 

Rule number two: Exercise is part of your working day. It clears your head, produces endorphins and growth hormone, strengthens your immune system and generally helps you cope with daily life. It also helps you sleep. Again, it is part of your working day. If you are constantly stressed, it is because your system has no way of draining the anxious energy. Which brings us neatly to how this is doing “less”....(even though it sounds like more)

Exercise “Drains the Battery”.  Anxiety is an energy intensive state. Constant anxiety builds up as stored energy in the system, and with nowhere to go will eventually burst out in an inconvenient manner at an inconvenient time (aggressive outbursts, insomnia, crying etc.) By draining this energy you remove the body’s ability to produce an anxious response, and so it will do the only other thing it can do: Calm down. This gives you the mental space to solve the issues causing the anxiety in the first place.  There are simply less things for the brain to have to deal with. 

Simples. 

J.F.D.I. 

Mark

In the last blog post I spoke about what I refer to as “mental tendinitis” and how the mind can suffer from repetitive strain, and display signs of strain in the form of behavioural symptoms. I promised in this post a simple adjustment that everyone can make that will relieve anxiety immediately and permanently.

Any kind of repetitive strain injury is caused by consistent and excessive loading. We will call this overloading. In order to give the part that is being injured the resources and time to recover, this load must be reduced.

In a nutshell, to reduce anxiety, list all the things that you think are causing stress, choose one and remove it.

Yes. It really is that simple. You are a binary creature. Overload your system and it will simply go into shutdown mode. To prevent overload, DO LESS STUFF.

Do this by inches. Massive changes cause huge amounts of anxiety. Change must be gradual and deliberate.

For example:

If your to do list has a hundred tasks on it, choose one that makes you feel particularly anxious, and strike it from the list. How do you feel?

Take an extra 5 minute break in your work day (this sounds like adding stuff in, but you are in fact removing the stress of continuously working) See how you feel?

Delegate a household chore that makes you anxious to your spouse/lover/kids/intelligent dog. Then actually let THEM do it. No interfering now. How was that for you?

Ask for help....remember:

Ass Saving Kit: Ask.

If you feel overwhelmed, ask a friend/spouse/clever pet to help you. Watch what happens.

(Asking people to help you makes THEM feel incredibly important and therefore good about themselves. People love to help, so ask!)

Reduce the number of stressors in your life and you will feel less stressed. Simples.

You may well think to yourself “Well I already knew that!!”. Maybe so, but do you actually DO it?

Talk is cheap. Action is golden.

J.F.D.I.

Mark