Anxiety levels are way up in the U.S. and around the world. This is a time of liminal change with a lot of power being flexed in negative ways. You may be experiencing high stress in response to the constant changes and tension. Trying to function with high anxiety levels is difficult.  

Anxiety is an emotion that is meant to raise the alarm, to get you to pay attention to danger so that you can act. Cascading waves of it lead to exhaustion, freeze, or crash. This robs you of your agency and power. Paying attention to your anxiety levels, and managing them, rather than having them manage you, allows you to make better decisions, to care for yourself and others, and to be present whatever is happening around you.  

In 2022 I wrote blogs and a workbook about shrinking anxiety. Looking at it today these are all still valid ideas, but they don’t go far enough given the current challenges. It is time to revisit the concepts. In this expansion pack you have a chance to look back at the past series and to look at additional ways to build strength, capacity, and resources. One of the hard things about liminal times is that there is no clear path forward. There is so much change and uncertainty that you can become overwhelmed not knowing what to do next. 

In Cycle of Anxiety, you can read about being stuck in a loop of anxiety and avoidance. You may be seeing cycles of anxiety, outrage, collapse, and despair being played out around you. The news is indeed bad, but the media escalates the intense swing of emotions leaving you little time to think, plan, and communicate. Emotions are important messages, data points that you need to listen to and consider. If you were a car, emotions would be the dashboard signals, not the steering wheel or heaven forbid the gas pedal! When you step back you can find ways to process your emotions, think through your unique situation, and make decisions about your next steps.  

There is power in externalizing your thoughts and emotions by naming them. To begin, you can simply note how you are feeling in response to various aspects of your day. There is no need to change or challenge your emotions. There is significant power in noticing your own emotional state and identifying how you are feeling. If you can, notice how your body is reacting, and describe it to yourself. Paying attention to your own emotions and reactions allows you to decide when you are ready to take on more information from the news or social media, and when you need a break.  

Anxiety is an emotion meant to raise the alert, to get you to pay attention to danger so that you can act. It is easy to get stuck in the alert state leading to exhaustion and crash. The current political and media reality is that your phone is delivering “warning, warning, alert” messages constantly. You are in a liminal time in history, major change is happening, and the outcomes are not at all clear. Staying grounded in your own awareness, relationships and thoughts allows you to make decisions that move you forward.  

In this series we will look at ways to process anxiety and manage your energy, so you can maintain your resilience and use your strengths during this time in history. Rather than allow the news or social media to exert power over you, you can use your power to support yourself and those people and causes that matter to you.  

Peace,

Laura