How I squashed my anxiety in one month
While I was trying to manage going to school, never-ending assignments, tests and papers, with being self-employed I was extremely stressed out and anxious and I even experienced panic attacks. I couldn’t sleep properly and generally felt like everything was awful and would never end.
I spoke to my GP about it and I was prescribed SSRIs and beta blockers and I was adamant that I did not want to use medication. These medications have some positive uses in our society, but they were definitely not something that I was willing to explore. Especially when I’ve been educated with all the information to manage anxiety and stress completely naturally.
This experience was the ultimate test to put into practice everything I knew about yoga, breathing, meditation and nutritional support for stress and anxiety. I found out that through committing to change, moving through anxiety and stress naturally absolutely is possible, but it needs to be made a priority, not something managed with a pill.
Here’s a list of a few things I tried that had a big impact:
✦ I unpacked my schedule and narrowed down on the work that I offered (self employed revenue streams). Too many plates spinning around did my head in and it was tough to focus. This exacerbated my anxiety to the point where I felt like I was doing too many things and none of them well. If you have a lot on your plate, ask what you can get rid of or push to the side until later just so you can start to clear clutter out of your mind. Less clutter in the mind = less to think about = helps to lower anxiety.
✦ I started taking magnesium glycinate supplements before bed, this is a highly absorbable/bioavailable form of magnesium. Magnesium is often deficient and those who suffer with anxiety and those who are really active. It is essential in the biological mechanisms that help you to relax physically and mentally. Green leafy vegetables are a great source of magnesium. I also take CBD oil before bed on the occasions where I feel nervous energy before going to sleep.
✦ I took some time off (when possible) for myself to reconnect with the world outside of my narrow focus on work and school in London, to remind myself of the bigger picture and cherish my relationships with my partner, family, friends and students. Simply getting out of the flat and going for a walk in the local park helped wonders.
✦ I put my yoga practice time in my schedule and made it non negotiable to miss in lieu of any work, emails or anything else that came up. Now that I’m done school, I have made a commitment to focusing on my yoga practice again by taking some more yoga teacher trainings and Ashtanga intensives. I notice how worked up and obsessive/OCD, I can become when I do not practice yoga frequently. Being like this makes everything else I have to do 10 times harder, so it is absolutely pointless to miss yoga. I also joined a Pilates studio and made attending class, a priority and non-negotiable. This is especially important when I am working from home all day just to get out of the house, breathe some air and see more than the insides of my small flat.
✦ I put calming lavender oil on my pillow before bed. It can have a huge calming affect on your nervous system and smells lovely. Having a ritual that is intended to help you fall asleep can set you up for better sleeps too, because you are priming your nervous system for it.
The above need to be done consistently to have strong effects, they absolutely do work!
There is so much more that I do to manage my anxiety beside this list. You can work with food, herbs, supplements, breathing exercises, mindfulness techniques like journalling and grounding.