Explore how anxiety can show up in your life, work, and relationships
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Try: Tackling One Item From Your "Should" List
This one is pretty unappealing. I know that. How? Because I know you. Because I AM you. I wouldn't want to do anything from my should list either. You think I want to go over to that set of papers on the desk and look at summer camp options for my daughter (why are they only one week long? why so much planning? it's like a matrix of options over there). Or even worse, the pile of bills. But this is on the list for a reason. Doing just one thing on the list will make you feel better and could change the momentum of your day. It's not about doing everything. It's about doing one thing. And then, maybe, one more thing.
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: Getting Bored
Try turning off devices and doing nothing until you're bored. Genuinely bored, in the way that little kids are when they don't know what to do with themselves. (The same boredom that usually hits in the period before they come up with some great activity idea like building an underwater tent in the living room. Don't step on the floor! The carpet is sharks!)
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: Tackling a Craft
Try knitting, then knit something absurd to put on a baby. Then take a photo and never use it again. Just remember, after the absurd knits comes the cool stuff you actually use over and over again.
You don't have to be good to start knitting. Not at all. And check this excerpt from a recent NY Times piece by Jane Brody, The Health Benefits of Knitting:
Knitting and crocheting can lower heart rate and blood pressure and reduce harmful blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The father of a prematurely born daughter reports that during the baby’s five weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, “learning how to knit preemie hats gave me a sense of purpose during a time that I felt very helpless. It’s a hobby that I’ve stuck with, and it continues to help me cope with stress at work, provide a sense of order in hectic days, and allows my brain time to solve problems.”
I will literally teach you how to do basic knit (just like this) if you join the BV Slack room. We could even google hangout. Why not? Sounds relaxing.
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: Taking a Bath with a Podcast
Reminder: these are good things, both together or separately. If you're lucky enough to have the time, why not become happy woman with her massive headphones & bubbles?
Also, books are always there, ready to change out your mind's broken record. Here's a novel recommendation if nothing's coming to mind: The Brothers Sisters by Patrick Dewitt. Man, was that a great book.
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: Online Yoga
Ekhart yoga is an online yoga classes, so you can do it from home or on the go. You subscribe for access, but you can try it out for a month for just a $1. So that's cool.
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: Taking a Walk
Easier said than done. But just getting up and going for a 10 minute walk can melt the snowball a bit.
The Human app helps you to be active for 30 minutes a day and tells you if you've hit that 10 min walk level with a pretty design. I find that having a small goal--just go to the library--can get me out of the house, and that's what it takes to start feeling better.
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: Making a Playlist
I find that getting immersed in a project helps switch my mind out of the overthinking mode and into a feeling of flow. My wish: that it were possible to attach cover art to the music I'm putting together to create a mood, the way we used to back in the 80s/90s. If that were easy to do on Spotify or Apple Music, I'd recommend that you create art on an app called LogoScopic. That's fun to do anyway, why not? It gets you creating.
If you don't feel like making a playlist, fear not. You could give this one a try. It's the OFFICIAL Beautiful Voyager playlist. I'm psyched about it.
If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!
Try: A Meditation App
By this point, there are hundreds of meditation apps. I keep it simple. I started subscribing to Headspace in Jan 2015 and have never looked back.
I picked up one more source for meditations along the way. Tara Brach is a wise teacher and guide. Her talks are available by subscribing to her podcast. Here is what she says about our itchy desire to figure out a solution for everything that might come up:
You have a unique body and mind, with a particular history and conditioning. No one can offer you a formula for navigating all situations and all states of mind. Only by listening inwardly in a fresh and open way will you discern at any given time what most serves your healing and freedom. If this experiment works for you, hit the heart to let others know they should give it a try!