Put Anxiety on Hold… BEEP!
Since anxiety is so tied to feelings and emotions sometimes it requires one to step back and get some perspective on what issues are really worth our mental energy.
Often times I find myself consumed with some little workplace stress and hours later realize it is no big deal and am able to let it go simply because I see it for what it is.
A little trick you can try is to put anxiety on hold…
I’m sure you all know the feeling of being put on hold when you call someone on the phone.
Why does it bug us so much? Well I know why it bugs me…
For the most part it means I am less important than whatever else it is the other person is doing.
The person on the other end of the phone has decided in their mind an order of priority and has made a choice to focus on thing over another. Fairly simple concept.
When you find yourself overwhelmed with anxiety about a particular issue ask yourself if waiting a couple hours (or days) to think about the situation would in any way hinder you effectively dealing with it or coming up with a satisfactory solution.
If the answer is “no”… then simply (sounds simple but still takes practice)
Put Anxiety on Hold… BEEP!!!
Determine within yourself you have more important things to focus on and spend your mental and emotional energy on.
Often times I am spending time with my 2 sons and find myself thinking about something I need to do for work… and although I know full well I am not going to leave them to deal with the task I often keep worrying about it.
When I take the “put anxiety on hold” approach I tell myself ”right now my kids are more important and although this concern may be legitimate I am not going to leave what I’m doing to take care of it so it may as well wait until I can give it my full attention”.
Guess what? The more I practice this approach the more it works.
The cool thing about it is it also gives me some time to step back and get a proper perspective on the overall issue in general which many times allows me to see the “problem” isn’t as big a deal as originally thought.
Now there are some situations in life where time is of the essence and need to be dealt with in the moment but for the most part much of what we are anxious about are things we realistically can choose to just…
Put anxiety on hold…… Beeeeeeep!
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