Feeling Anxious?

Whether it's financial stress, concerns about contracting COVID-19, disruptions to your work or study, or separation from friends and family, it's understandable that you might be feeling anxious and out-of-sorts during lockdown.

Here are Dr Tracey's top 4 tips to help manage anxiety during stressful times.

1. Name your emotion. Sometimes we feel unsettled. We know something is wrong but what is it? For example ‘I’m feeling anxious’ or ‘I’m feeling scared’. No need to think too much about why. Just naming it reduces the stress it is making you feel.

2. Catch your thoughts. This is similar to above, but this time we are acknowledging a thought. Just because you think something, it doesn’t make it true. For example you might say ‘I am having the thought that everything is too hard and I can’t cope.’ Acknowledging a thought as just a thought separates it a little from the emotion attached to it.

3. Make your bed. Funny thing to add here, but there is a certain satisfaction to accomplishing just one thing, right at the beginning of the day. Try it and see how your anxiety feelings reduce.

4. Practice gratitude. Write down 1-3 things you are grateful for each day. Don’t do the opposite which is to think ‘there are people worse off than me’. That is actually a kind of negative thought. Think about what is good and name it. Personally I call these things blessings.

Need help with your thoughts and emotions? We are here for you. Book a time and we can talk - in person, over the phone and now also via video call.