Anxiety, It is lonely and exhausting. It is important to see it as something seperate to us. It is a feeling. I am feeling anxious, I am not anxious.
l go through a checklist. It helps me a lot. However everyone is different and anxiety isn’t always something you can checklist your way out of. But I am sharing my
experience in the hope it may help you.
I think of my anxiety as data, it’s telling me something, usually one of the things on my checklist. I pay attention to it and have an internal conversation with it.
I ask myself :
1. Is it my anxiety trying to tell me something? If so what is it saying? Wheres the danger?
2. Am I saying yes to too many things in my life and ignoring my own needs?
3. Am I avoiding difficult feelings by numbing, isolating or over committing?
4. Am I spending too much time in my head ruminating and forgetting that exercise, moving, walking helps? (Every time!!)
5. Am I taking care of myself? Sleeping well, not drinking too much coffee/alcohol, spending time with friends?
6. Am I saying I’m OK when I’m not? Do I have enough support?
This is my list, yours may be different. When you feel anxious it isn’t time to be hard on yourself, it calls for gentle enquiry and a softness that only you can give yourself.
If we listen when it whispers, we may not have to hear it scream.
Kareena x.
Kareena Hodgson is an accredited Counsellor and The Manifesto is her professional consultancy
Follow me on Instagram @themanifesto_counsellor
Kareena Hodgson was a full-time professional international circus performer for 20 years, who is now an accredited Counsellor and The Manifesto is her professional consultancy. She is uniquely suited to working in the mental health space within the performing arts. She is also the Executive Coach & Moral Backbone of Carnival Cinema.
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