How To Get Better Sleep When You’re Anxious

We’ve all been there. The thoughts are swirling, the heart is racing, and every time you turn to look at the clock, the frustration sets in. You can’t sleep because your anxiety won’t let you stop thinking. Then you get more anxious as the night shortens and sunrise creeps closer. It sucks, but it happens. Here are a few ways to fall asleep faster, stay asleep, and wake up when your anxiety is giving you fits.

Falling asleep

Stretch

Take a few minutes to work the tension out of your muscles. This will help you prepare to fall asleep without having all the muscles in your body clenched and the grimace on your face.

Journal

Take a few moments to write down all the swirling thoughts. Keep the journal close to your bedside.

Meditate

Take 10-15 to sit in silence and let the rest of the problems go.

Turn out the lights

All of them. Don’t have any lights on in the area you sleep in. Even the smallest of lights will interrupt your sleep.

Staying asleep

If you wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, follow the previous steps. Don’t lie there bemoaning the lost sleep. Get up and do something. Just keep the lights low and the activity light. Go back to bed when you start feeling tired again. Be sure to keep your room as cool as you can.

Waking up

Set your phone/alarm on the other side of the room

I had to start doing this when I began the nasty habit of snoozing my alarm. It’s a whole lot harder to stay asleep after you’ve had to get up and move.

Make you bed immediately and then open the curtains

This not only provides yet more barriers to returning to slumber, they also help kick you into productivity.

Cold water

Splash your face with cold water to continue waking up. Try brushing your teeth with cold water as well.

Sleep is essential to living a healthy life, and this is especially true when you live with mental health disorders. Hopefully, some of these tricks will help you get some good sleep.

Checking In With Yourself

Anxiety makes our bodies work overtime and this can have a negative effect on them. Self-care is a great tool for combating the stress our anxiety puts them under, but how do you know when you need to take a break?

This is where it becomes important to check in with ourselves. Once a week, sometimes even more often, I like to sit down in silence for a bit and check in. There are three ways that I do this every time.

Journal

I sit down with pen and paper and I just write. This is similar to morning pages for me, except that I really focus on my emotions. I really take the time to figure out how I’m feeling, as well as how I’ve been feeling through the week. Then I break it down to figure out what I could have done differently, make peace with what I couldn’t have changed, and make a plan for approaching future situations differently. This is my emotional check in.

Meditate

Next, I’ll turn on some meditation music and allow myself to really tune into my mental health. This is the time when I focus on my mindset, determine if there’s something I’m obsessing over, if I’m overwhelmed, and then spend some time in meditation to let it all go. I’ll go back to my journal after this to make notes of what I learned. This is my mental check in.

Body scan

Then I’ll check in with my body. This requires more silence, so I’ll sit down and scan my body. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, I pay attention to every part of my body. I figure out what it’s telling me. Am I tired, is my heart racing, does anything hurt, etc. This is my physical check in.

Self-care plan

Lastly, I’ll take the next few minutes to determine how and where I need to take care of myself. Where do I focus my self-care? If my mental state is rough, but my physical and emotional health are okay, then I’ll prioritize some time outdoors. If I’m okay emotionally and mentally but not physically, then I’ll prioritize rest or exercise. If I need to focus on my emotional health, then I’ll spend some time giving myself a break emotionally by watching a comedy or spending time with my tribe.

Self-cafe is a really great way to take care of ourselves, but it’s not going to do any good if you don’t know where you need to focus it. It’s not all face masks and sleeping in, it’s also getting outside and spending time with the people we love. Self-care is taking care of ourselves in every aspect. So how do you customize your self-care?

Mental Health Awareness: Self-Care

Self-care is vital to taking care of your mental health. It’s not just for people that have problems like anxiety, it’s important for everyone. So what is self-care? Self-care is the practice of doing stuff to protect your mental health.

Self-care is important because it provides many benefits. It reduces your levels of stress, refills your energy, improves confidence, and gives you time to relax and reflect. It doesn’t just help you mentally and emotionally either. Self-care can even help you physically.

There are eight pillars of self-care: physical, psychological, emotional, social, financial, spiritual, environmental, and professional. Taking care of all of these areas of your life can make you a very well-rounded person. For someone dealing with anxiety, however, we’re going to focus on ways to practice self-care for your peace of mind.

A few ideas for self-care are listed below. Take any of these ideas and make them your own, or create a self-care list of your own.

Take a walk. Get outside and breathe in the fresh air, soak up that Vitamin D, and stretch those muscles. This can offer clarity and a new perspective, as well as giving you energy and boosting your mood.

Write in your journal. This can get the negative or swirling thoughts out of your head and give you room to think more clearly. This provides new outlook and puts your problems in perspective.

Meditate for at least 5 minutes. Sit up straight and comfortable, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing for a while. This will help reduce your stress levels, regulate your breathing and heart rate, and can even calm your anxiety back to its regular levels.

Practice your gratitude. Sometimes you just need to sit down and make a list of all the things you are grateful for. With anxiety, we tend to get overwhelmed and let the thoughts swirl around. This consumes our thoughts and we get stuck. Allowing yourself to list some things you’re grateful for will get you out of that swirling headspace.

Call someone. Don’t text them. Actually dial their phone number and call someone for a nice chat. Calling a parent or a friend that will listen can have the same benefits as journaling, with the added benefit of making us feel happier and more connected.

Do something that makes you laugh. This can be anything from watching your favorite comedian or a funny movie to making funny faces and laser noises in the mirror. Just find some way to laugh.

These are some of my favorite ways to practice self-care. There are so many ways to take care of your mental health when you are dealing with anxiety. They can be anything from taking a hot shower to spending hours journaling all your thoughts out.

In honor of mental health awareness month, I encourage you to create a self-care list and do at least one thing on that list every day. Feel free to share your list.

Morning Pages: What and How?

Morning pages are a phenomenon I’m sure you’ve already heard about. Everyone seems to be talking about them. What are morning pages exactly? Morning pages are three pages of stream of consciousness writing that you do first thing in the morning. They are not pretty, they do not follow the rules of grammar, and they are not to be read after you’ve written them. Morning pages are often whiny, petty, and full of negativity.

The idea behind morning pages is to get out all of the thoughts that are swirling around in your head on a daily basis. This is the stuff that keeps you from growing and accessing your artist brain. They allow you to get out all of the stuff that’s holding you back, so that you can then access your creativity. Anyone can benefit from morning pages.

So what are the rules for writing morning pages? They have to be done in the morning every day. They need to be three pages long, and you can’t stop writing. Start writing and don’t stop. If you run out of thoughts, write about how you can’t think of anything to write. They must be handwritten. Typing on a computer, screen, or other form of electronic does not provide the same benefits as putting pen to paper. Basically, pick up your journal first thing every morning and just start writing. Even when you don’t feel like it, even when you would rather be doing anything else, pick it up and start writing.

Now that we know what morning pages are, how can they help with anxiety? As it turns out, there are plenty of ways that morning pages can help. I’ll tell you about what I consider the biggest benefits to using morning pages to manage my anxiety.

Stream of consciousness writing allows you to pull out issues and triggers that you had no idea were there. It allows you to connect with your subconscious mind and the issues that you are dealing with come bubbling up in your writing. By using morning pages, you can identify the issues that your anxiety deals with when it seems there is no trigger.

The act of writing the issues down on paper allows you to put some distance between you and the problems you’re dealing with. This allows you to work through the issues without being so consumed by the thoughts that you can’t think your way through them. It puts your problems, issues, and thoughts in context so you can find a real solution to help.

Morning pages can be incredibly beneficial. The reason why everyone seems to talk about them lately is because they work! Try them for a week and see what happens. Try it for a month and see how much improved your mood will be. Try them for a year and watch the magic happen. Let me know how it goes!

5 Coping Methods for Panic Attacks

Anxiety freaking sucks, okay? Sometimes it’s triggered and sometimes it sneaks up on you. It can be hard to deal with, it can be debilitating, and occasionally it prevents us from living our best life. So when the anxiety hits its high note, and the panic attack swings in for its debut, there seems to be nothing we can do to stop it. Thankfully, there are several things that you can do if you can just remember them.

Box breathing

Breathing is something that a lot of people will tell you helps. There’s a reason for that. It does! I’ve found over the numerous years that I’ve been dealing with panic attacks that some forms of breathing are more efficient for preventing and stopping panic. Box breathing is one such method. This is a recent discovery of mine and it’s amazing.

Inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts, hold for counts. Repeat this process at least four times. It won’t stop anxiety or panic in their tracks, but it will go a long way in calming you enough for you to focus.

Senses countdown

This is another popular grounding technique. Again, it’s because it works. A lot of people will tell you that there’s a certain order that they need to be in, but I honestly don’t bother. I use what I need which is the first thing that comes to my mind. Usually, it goes in this order: five things I can see, four things I can smell, three things I can touch, two things I can hear, and one thing I can taste.

Don’t think about the elephant

This is a fun way of telling you to find a distraction. You know how when someone tells you to not think of something, say an elephant, and it suddenly becomes all you can think about? Yeah. Anxiety works the same way. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t stop thinking about the looming panic, just find a way to distract yourself. Solve the problem later, find a distraction now. Psst. Binge watching that show on Netflix or burying yourself in blankets to read definitely count.

Change of temperature

This is one that I use when traveling. I don’t know if this is a popular one, but it is one that helps me. A massive change in temperature. When my anxiety hits hard, I get hot. It feels like I’m suffocating in heat. I’ve found that rolling the window down or turning on the air conditioner goes a long way in helping ground me enough that I can think.

Muscle relaxation

This last tip is also a new one for me. It makes sense, and it does help. Take a few moments to think about your body. Put all of your focus into if you can, and go one muscle at a time. Think about a group of muscles, tense them up as hard as you can, hold for a few seconds, then release completely. Do this for every area of your body.

I know it’s hard to remember to do these things when the anxiety is present. Just try your best to remember one of these or all of them and just do what you can. Panic attacks happen but they can be handled.

Why Routines Are Important for Anxiety

I’ve had anxiety for most of my life. In the last two years, it’s gotten so much worse. In October last year, I decided that enough was enough. I was tired of feeling scared to even live my life. Fate allowed me to stumble upon an amazing anxiety mentor at just the right time. While working with her, I learned something. This was something that I already knew, but I hadn’t really stuck to anything long enough to really let it work. Routines are so important for those of us with anxiety.

Structure

Routines give us the structure that anxiety doesn’t always allow us to have. Now I’m not saying that everyone needs structure in order to manage their anxiety. I have found over the last few months that having a morning routine and an evening routine means that I have less stress throughout my day-to-day life. I know what I’m doing and I have time to plan. I start the day knowing what to expect, then I end the day with a relaxed mindset knowing that I can handle tomorrow.

I’ve also found that routines allow for more productivity. I know what I’m doing and I know that I can get it done. I have time in the evenings to list the things I need to prioritize, and I have the mornings to review and prepare for those priorities.

Planning

As I previously stated, having solid routines allows us to be prepared for the day ahead. A morning routine allows you to take the time in the morning to get ready. You’ll face the day knowing what you need to do. You can set your schedule, then you can get to work, reassured that you have the time to get it all done. This means that you spend less time stressing about how to get it all done, and more time to spend chasing your dreams.

Mental health

Perhaps one of the most important things about having a routine is that it helps us with our mental, emotional, and physical health. A routine means that we take our vitamins and medicine when we’re supposed to. When the routine becomes a habit, we don’t even think about it anymore. Healthy habits are easier to incorporate into our routines, and the bad habits are easier to eliminate.

The same routines can help us take care of our mental and physical health. We can incorporate journaling, meditation, and exercise. We can start the day with a healthy mindset, and then we can end the day by checking in with ourselves. We can examine our mood through the day, our anxiety level and our triggers, as well as how much water we drank and how much sleep we got.

Routines can be so helpful to those of us dealing with anxiety on a regular basis. They provide structure and get us ready to face our day-to-day lives. Create some routines for yourself or shake yours up and see what happens. Let me know how it goes.

Anxiety and Murphy’s Law

Have you ever had one of those days when it seems like everything is going wrong? With every little (or big) thing that goes sideways, your anxiety builds and builds. You enter this mindset that says the day is ruined, the universe is against you, or even that this is why we can’t have nice things. Those days are so exhausting mentally, emotionally, and even sometimes physically.

Sweetie, we’ve all been there. I can’t tell you that your day is magically going to get better. I won’t tell you that it’s all for a greater purpose. What I will tell you is that this is just one day and it will pass. Maybe this issue will last for a few days, a week, a month, or a year, but it will pass. Life is full of ups and downs, hills and valleys. It’s a roller coaster. Sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s really not.

I want you to do a few things when this happens.

Count your blessings

I want you to stop what you’re doing and take a breath. For everything that’s going wrong, I want you to counter that with three things that are good in your life. This will remind you that it’s not as bad as your anxiety will make you think it is. For instance, the glass fell out of my bedroom window without any warning. That sucks. Three things: I did say I needed to air out my room, I have to ability to get it fixed quickly, it’s a nice breezy day.

Let yourself rant

This can be to a friend, a family member, or just your journal. I know a lot of people like to whine about whiners. It helps though. Get out all those emotions, thoughts, and boiling inner demons. Then take a deep breath and let it go. Don’t linger in the negative when there are so many positive things happening.

Practice self-care

When you have a long, hard day, self-care is so important. Rough days are so draining. You can’t give from an empty cup, so go find something you can do to practice self-care and relish it. This might be the only thing you truly appreciate on the rough day, or it might be thing you need to turn it around. Either way, you need to refill that cup.

Sometimes everything that can go wrong, does. This triggers your anxiety and everything gets worse. That doesn’t mean your day has to be completely ruined. These three things help me out so much. I really hope they can help someone else.

Four Types of Procrastination and How to Handle Them With Anxiety

Moved from my Tumblr: jennuhjournals

There are many types of procrastination. Anxiety makes you far more likely to fall prey to the different forms. No matter how often you’re told to just suck it up and do it, it’s not always that easy when you have anxiety. Learning how to recognize the type of procrastination you’re dealing with will tell you how to beat that issue.

The “Anxious” Procrastination

You know this procrastination well. You know you have a due date approaching and you know you need to get it done. It’s big and there’s going to be a lot to do. It’s overwhelming and you can’t seem to get yourself started. No matter what you do, you can’t seem to start the task without triggering your anxiety.

So how do you handle it? Break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Then take those tasks one at a time. Instead of focusing on the bigger project, look at the smaller tasks. Start with the smallest tasks and build up from there.

Don’t forget to take breaks. Do something fun during those breaks, but don’t fall into a false sense of security. Avoid time traps when doing your fun breaks. These are the things you lose yourself in and lose track of time. Social media is one such trap. Either avoid it altogether, or set a timer that you know you can stick to.

Check in with yourself frequently. Just a quick pause to assess your levels. Do you need to take a breath? How’s your heart? Is it racing or are you calm? Do you need water? Do you need to take some deep breaths and calm down? Be aware of your mind and body and what it needs. Take care of yourself and then get back to work.

The “I Would Rather” Procrastination

You have something you need to be doing, but there’s other stuff you’d rather be doing. Why would you want to write your paper when you could be hanging out with your friend or scrolling through your socials? You know it’s important to do this task, but the more fun stuff is just calling your name and your attention.

What do you do? You set a timer and you do the fun thing. When that timer goes off, however, you put it away. You set it out of sight, you make it difficult to get to, and you get to work. If you need to turn your phone off and set it in a desk with a locked drawer, you do that. You’ll be more likely to ignore it. It won’t be drawing your attention and it’s inconvenient to get to. If you need to put your book in the bathroom cabinet, do so. Do the fun thing, then get to work. Repeat the process as often as you need to and check in with your anxiety if you need to.

The “I’ve Got Time” Procrastination

You know the due date of a project. It’s a big one, but it’s not due for months. You’ve got plenty of time. We’ve all been there. It turns out, there’s not enough time if you end up waiting until the last minute.

So how do I get started now? If you’re lucky, your professor or instructor will set deadlines for you. If not, do it yourself. This is where it gets tricky and I’ll definitely write more about this later. Some people can hold themselves accountable, while others need outside accountability partners. Figure out how you handle deadlines and responsibility and go from there. Tell people if you need to have an accountability partner, or just hold yourself accountable if you can. Set your deadlines and smash them.

The “What’s the Point if It Isn’t Perfect” Procrastination

I struggle with this one so much! I struggle with getting started on a task. I want it to be perfect or at least high quality. What’s the point of putting in the effort to do something if it isn’t? Done is better than perfect and you can always go back and edit or change something if you need to. Waiting to start, though, will take the editing or changing option away.

So how do I get started? For this one, the answer actually is to just start. The first draft is going to suck. Point blank. It won’t be good. That’s what the other drafts are for. That’s what second chances are for. You can always fix it later, but you have to get started. Just do it. Set a timer for two minutes. You may find that you want to continue from there.

Procrastination comes in all shapes and sizes and the consequences can be bad. There are ways to combat it though. Hopefully these suggestions help.

Artist Dates Aren’t Just for Artists

If you are someone that spends a lot of time online, then you’ve probably heard of an artist date. An artist date is this amazing concept found in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. This is a block of time that is yours. During this time, you go out by yourself and spend some time letting creativity come to you. For content creators, there are many benefits to this creative exercise. For the anxious mind, there are just as many benefits.

One of the many benefits is a clear head. Taking some time to spend alone with no one to distract or judge you can be so freeing. Turn off your phone and spend some time alone. This can be exploring a part of your city, sitting outside reading a book or just sitting, or anything that feeds your soul.

Another benefit is a change in perspective. Sometimes the problems we see are so large and daunting. Taking a step back and spending some time out of our comfort zone allows us the ability to see what we normally wouldn’t. This allows us to change our viewpoint and the big, scary thoughts and ideas become smaller and more manageable.

Mindset shifts can happen at any time. Normally we associate a mindset shift with consistently adding new, better ideas into our lives. When you take the time to be alone and out of your comfort zone, then a shift can happen all on its own. We sometimes call this an epiphany – a moment when something that puzzled or troubled you suddenly doesn’t because the answer becomes clear. A shift in your mindset can happen the same way.

Room to breathe is so important. This is a frequent benefit of getting out into nature. A bigger space away from everything is so peaceful. Fresh air, a good breeze, and a change of scenery can do wonders for the anxious mind.

Leaving the comfort zone is always a great way to shake the anxiety and it’s something that happens with an artist’s date. This is a scary thing that frightens many of us but you grow outside of your comfort zone. So step out of it and experience something new or better.

New experiences are perhaps the best part of an artist date. Go somewhere you haven’t been before. Explore that place you’ve always been curious about. Get out there and feed your soul.

An artist date is meant to inspire you and feed your creativity. It will certainly do that. If you let it, it will also help with an anxious mind. For students that are struggling, that date might just be exactly what you need to reorient yourself. Give it a shot and let me know all about your adventure.