DRIVEN’s Anxiety & Uncertainty Toolkit.
7 Habits and Practices to Better Manage Your Mind.
Are you feeling anxious due to the daily volatility and uncertainty we all face? While uncertainty is a given in life, it seems the anxiety many of us contend with continues to ratchet up.
I’ve been working with clients and organizational cultures to develop mindsets, habits and practices to help them survive and even thrive during this seemingly endless era of unpredictability. These efforts are crucial beyond the obvious motivation, as feeling plagued and paralyzed by uncertainty is profoundly unhealthy.
On closer look, it becomes apparent that the worry and doubt born of uncertainty can obstruct one’s ability to fully leverage the thinking part of the brain— the Prefrontal Cortex. And this center of trust, creativity, empathy and focus is crucial to our everyday interactions.
Think back to when you’ve found yourself panicked about the unknown future. While you may have been alone in your thoughts, your amygdala was working actively to keep you safe. That was the original intent of this prehistoric and reactive part of the human brain. The amygdala is responsible for the release of hormones into your body, the very same neurotransmitters that kept our ancestors safe from physical threats, like saber-toothed tigers!
Today’s human amygdala clearly needs a system update. In life, we suffer from psychological threats more often than bodily harm. Regardless, the amygdala’s reaction to perceived threat is to release cortisol and adrenaline into the body. We know how these hormones affect our long-term health. But in the short term, cortisol acts to fog the executive brain. When fogged, we become narrow-minded and short-sighted, as we think more in terms of ‘me’, and less about ‘we’.
The good news? We can each retrain our amygdala to simmer down. This includes slowing its reactivity. We can also leverage our Prefrontal Cortex to maintain emotional equilibrium.
It is in this spirit that we are offering 7 habits and practices to intentionally employ for mitigating anxiety and better managing uncertainty.
1. Practice Radical Acceptance: This does not mean to accept, condone or even be complacent about your current reality. It means accepting, as true, this present moment. It starts with catching yourself fighting reality, acknowledging that, “Yes, this is unfortunate”, and taking it from there. This short video explains how to begin practicing radical acceptance.
2. Manage Your Media Diet: If you fixate on the media and social media to ‘keep current’ about the news, you may be doing yourself more harm than good. Since these two information sources make money by keeping you engaged, you may be unknowingly sucked into unhealthy patterns. Ask yourself how much you need to know about the atrocities we are facing and witnessing. War, climate change, current politics and natural disasters are horrifying. Equally true: By not consuming news each and every day, nothing about these realities is going to change. What a media diet may do is provide your brain the space to focus on, as Voltaire said, tending to your own garden.
3. Double Down on Gratitude: Most of my coaching clients are invited to keep a gratitude journal for a month. Many continue the practice. When uncertainty spikes, a second exercise can help with perspective. I invite you to grab a pen, paper and a timer. Set the timer for 3 minutes and write all your responses to this prompt: “What is not wrong right now?” When I learned this practice from Geneen Roth, I could feel my nervous system shift as I scribbled furiously fast!
4. Diminish Panic During Anxiety Attacks: I used to go into negative thought loops, never realizing that I was spinning deeper into a black hole of doom. Glennon Doyle’s deceptively simple yet powerful exercise helps to ground me when I find myself swirling in the uncertainty in my head. If you catch yourself saying “what if”, stop yourself and ask “what is”, as in, “What is happening in this moment?” I start with “My feet are planted on the floor”, “I am taking a cleansing breath”, “I am safe”, and take it from there.
5. Engage in Belly Breathing: And speaking of the breath, belly breathing packs a double punch: It acts to decrease stress while increasing energy and motivation. It also teaches you how to breathe optimally. You see, when we’re stressed, we tend to breathe shallowly, not maximizing each breath. And breathing fully is essential for proper Prefrontal Cortex function. So, take a few minutes to learn how to belly breathe. Take this one step farther and make it a daily goal to practice this breath work for 2 minutes each day.
6. Deal Your Own Dose: Just like cocaine affects dopamine and Ecstasy releases serotonin into your body, everyday activities can also inspire the release of “Happy Hormones”. You see, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins mitigate anxiety, leaving us more hopeful and positive about the future. I had fun creating this prescription of activities that increase these natural hormones in your body:
Which Happy Hormones will you choose to support your daily well-being?
7. Stay Connected: In times of overwhelming stress, we tend to isolate ourselves. Whereas in community, we feel grounded and grateful through the connections, support, humor and hopefulness our community creates.
We’ll be exploring community in great detail in 2024— a year wherein genuine connection and support will be essential. But for now, bring to mind a person who makes you feel happy, seen, accepted, supported, inspired and safe. How do you feel when you see this person in your mind’s eye? Do you feel your heart “burst”? Take a moment to text, email or call to connect with this person who inspires you. And know that you’ve just given them a heart burst, too!
Is Coaching for you? Are you ready for it? Sign up HERE for a 15-minute Complimentary Coaching Consult to find out.