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Advice on how to cope with Anxiety and Stress!

spittenfire's picture

Here is the advice Luchay with me a couple a weeks ago that has helped me sooooo much! I am sharing in a post for all to read and hopefully it will help others.

"Our body has two states of being...
One is I AM SAFE..... and the other is I AM ABOUT TO BE EATEN BY A TIGER.
Just one or the other, there is no other state. If our body is not 100% relaxed, then it is forced to interpret tension as a "tiger", and then it must act to save our life. Adrenalin and cortisol - our fight or flight chemicals pour in, getting us ready to run like hell and save our lives. This is our "fight or flight" response.

Our body doesn't know the difference between "I just got fired from my job" or "my husband is an arsehole" or "I am going to be killed by a tiger" If you hold tension in your belly button about any event, it believes you are being killed and is forced to give you life saving chemicals.
Now, these chemicals are great for tigers, you tense up, your eyes open wide to find where he is, and you run up a tree with the utmost urgency. The safety system works a treat.

But when there isn't a real tiger, but rather just something yucky we wish wasn't, our body gets ready for fight or flight, juices up with life saving chemicals, but doesn't know what it is fighting or fleeing from. THIS IS WHERE STRESS RESULTS. You feel tense, sick, angry, your mood drops and agitation rises. You feel a sense of urgency (because you should move urgently if you were being eaten by a tiger) and you stay fixated on the problem (because you should keep an eye on the tiger at all times so you don't accidentally run towards him)

However, there is no real tiger, nothing life or death to flee from in this minute. and so each of these reactions just fills us with stress.
We have to help our body save tiger responses for actual tigers and moments of life or death, and not for anything else. Sometimes we think our problems are tigers, but they are not. I would like you to conceptualise that problems are not tigers but dog poo. I'll explain...
If you are walking along and there is a giant dog poo on the footpath - we do not have a fear response "ooooh I am going to die". No, you and I both know that dog poo is not life threatening. Sure, it's yucky, and we don't want to step in it, or eat it, but it's not going to kill us. Problems are the same as dog poo. A problem that isn't threatening to your very safety in this minute is just yucky and you might not wish to be in it. We need to make sure that our body chemistry is behaving appropriately for the minute it is in - a safe minute.

We have to make sure that our body chemistry interprets our problem as merely dog poo when it reacts. and not a tiger, something which it needs to save your life from.

Now, lets think again about dog poo for just a minute more. When you are walking along the path and come to this dog poo, you can do one of a few things. You can stop at the dog poo and not proceed, feeling angry that dog owners aren't more responsible, you can get your body juiced up with adrenalin thinking about how wrong it is and how it should not be. And you can thoroughly ruin what would otherwise have been a good minute, by thinking about what is wrong about someone else.

Or, you can see the dog poo for what it is, a dog poo. You can accept that it exists. You don't have to love it, or grant the dog owner permission to leave it there, but you can accept that you can see it exists. You can make sure your body is relaxed and not behaving as though this dog poo is a tiger. And the really cool bit is, you can WALK AROUND IT and keep on having an enjoyable walk! Yup - you can choose to stop thinking about something you cannot change and that is under someone else's control, and you can choose to use YOUR minute for something that makes you feel good!
Second sheet.

. Is this mine?
. is this thought or worry I am having under my control? Do I have the power to fix it? Or does this belong to someone else?
. Can I tighten my tummy and hate this, protest this, rage about this, be indignant about this enough to change it?
. CLUE: IF WE ARE STRESSED THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS NO
* Is this NOW?
. Is this worry something I can do anything about in this very minute? (check the clock) Or are you in a time machine minute, either in a past minute you cannot change or a future minute we haven't even come to yet?
. In this minute, the only minute you have any say over will a tight tummy change anything, or do anything to change this worry?
. CLUE: YEP YOU GUESSED IT, IT WE ARE STRESSED THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS NO
# Ok ok ok so then, what can *I* do that is MINE and NOW?

I know this is a little radical, but I can accept this. This means I have to see it how it is, even the shitty bits. This doesn't mean I have to love it, allow it, grant it permission, or be thankful for it - only that I accept it. In this minute I CAN ACCEPT THAT I CAN SEE THAT IT IS YUCKY, AND I CAN ALSO ACCEPT THAT I CAN SEE IT EXISTS! from here, I will practice slow deep breathing and pushing out my belly button, so that my body doesn't believe that this shitty bit is a tiger, and then attempt to save my life with adrenalin and cortisol.

Now, with acceptance under your belt and a loose belly button....
What will I choose to do with this very minute I am in right now (check the clock) In this minute I can choose to think about something that I have no control over and that makes me feel yucky, OR in this minute I can go do something that is under my control and will make me feel great. Right now I can go for a walk, have a cuppa or go dig in the garden. In this very minute, whether I chose miserable or whether I chose relaxed - it doesn't change this yucky thing THAT JUST IS. It just is, and I chose to find something good for me to be doing with this minute.

Of course, the problem, the shitty bit still exists, and at some point there will be an appropriate minute to deal with it. But usually when the stress and anxiety and upset is happening it is NOT that time. So, we need to learn to see it as just a shitty thing that is, and walk around it. So we can come back and deal with it later with a calm attitude and a clear head."

Comments

Tuff Noogies's picture

YAY! thank you Smile

just had another bit of news passed on to me, i can feel my blood pressure and heart rate gone up already... now let me take the time to read this- thanks again Smile

ETA- ok read. and bookmarked. "I have to see it how it is, even the shitty bits." that.was.awesome.

luchay's picture

LMAO - yes that was me too.

This was given to me by my new counsellor - 3 weeks ago now, and I am doing SO much better - things were at a point for me that were - well, rock bottom I guess LOL

I have been practising this and it really does work, it takes practise, but it works.

I accept that shit happens basically, things I can change and control I deal with, other stuff, I acknowledge it's shitty and put it out of my head to be dealt with when the time is right.

We haven't had a fight in three weeks. Because I don't become the tiger and attack when I feel threatened. I accept, I process and I deal with "it" however I can - find a strategy if it's mine to deal with or wait until I am calm and then discuss with OH.

Brilliant.

luchay's picture

be honest though, I like being the tiger (and I bet Fearless would agree Sticking out tongue), and it wouldn't be nearly so stressful if DH would just let me....

Ahhhh but that's the whole point you see.

There are times when being the tiger (or fighting the tiger) ARE the appropriate response.

This is for those times when there is no need for the tiger, when we are fighting something that isn't OURS to fight - so we have no control and so we end up with stress.

Example for me - BM texts OH and demands he take the kids THAT night (her time) as she has a date, we have a date too but he cancels OUR date to get his kids - because BM has already gone out and left them at home"

My choices - get pissed, get angry, scream and rant at OH about the unfairness of it all -
Will it change anything? NO
Accept his apology and promise of a date the next night to make up for it -
Obviously this is the best option - if she hadn't already left them we would also discuss that he needs to say NO to her sometimes - but he gets this now - I think this is why she has changed her tactics and left already TBH...

So, I can CHOOSE to go all tiger and cause myself stress - because the tiger cannot change anything about the situation or I can choose to accept that it's shitty and I don't like it but I have to deal with it and move on.

If the situation was SD stealing from me (again LOL) then I would sure as heck use that damned tiger though Wink

Mercury's picture

I love this.

I already knew about the mechanisms of stress and anxiety but the tiger/poo analogy is awesome. Smile

The second part of this piece is the part that means the most to me. I know what's happening chemically but I never could stop it from happening. Stopping to ask those questions seems like a good exercise that I might actually be able to use.

I'm scared to stop my anti anxiety meds though. It has been two years since my last panic attack and I NEVER want to go there again. I still have anxiety but I'm not immobilized by it anymore.

luchay's picture

Yay Spittenfire, I am so happy that it helped you too.

Mercury - yes I am the same - knowing this stuff mentally but having a way to see it differently and practically I think is the difference. I don't know, all I know is that it has helped me immensely.

It isn't a cure all, but it helps in "those" moments anyway.

Harleygurl's picture

I printed this and plan to give it to my husband. He suffers from major anxiety and constantly worries about things that don't need worried about which in turn frustrates the hell out of me. If he asks me what I need from the grocery store that should be sufficient. Unfortunately he was raised in a mentally abusive home so he doubts everything he does. Once he is at the grocery store, I'm 100% sure to expect a call asking me if I need anything and what was my original list (even when it is written down for him) and do I need to add anything. DH, if I forgot something I will just go get it. It is not life-threatening!