4 Foolproof Ways To Say Goodbye To Anxiety
You can suffer from anxiety for various reasons. A dramatic event, the nervousness preceding an important event or a powerful imagination that makes us go beyond reality; all these factors can lead us to suffer the symptoms of anxiety.
However, for whatever reason, there are some commonalities. The first is the need to calm down in order to move forward. The second is the physical symptoms caused by the short circuit that gives rise to anxiety and which we can control.
How to say goodbye to anxiety
Check your breathing
It doesn’t matter what the trigger for anxiety is. In all cases, labored breathing occurs, which causes a kind of short circuit in your body and mind. Breathing becomes fast and shallow, triggering anxiety symptoms.
In other words, if you are able to control your breathing, you can also control the remaining symptoms of anxiety. But how to control breathing in these conditions? It’s simpler than you think.
Rule 7/11
In order to control your breathing, you just need to follow these simple steps in order to put the 7/11 rule into practice:
- Stop.
- Concentrate on your breathing, without thinking about anything else.
- Breathe in as much as you can and count to 7.
- Exhale slowly and count to 11.
Practice this rule for a minute. Repeat until you succeed. The secret is in the exhalation, which must be longer than the inhalation.
Be prepared to face situations that cause you anxiety
On many occasions we know well which events can cause us anxiety because we have already experienced them or because the mere fact of thinking about them alters us. In these cases, you need to prepare yourself not to be a victim of anxiety.
When you begin to exhibit the first physical responses to anxiety caused by an event that has not yet occurred, that’s when you need to start remedying it. Don’t allow anxiety to take over you.
These early responses will begin with an accelerated breathing, which will result in cold sweat, clammy hands, bad mood, uncoordinated movements and other symptoms that will make your mind even more vulnerable. Your imagination will do the rest.
If you find yourself in this situation, apply the 7/11 rule. Do not try to justify or understand the situation, much less try to rationalize what is happening to you until you are able to control your breathing. And, to do that, you have to free your mind. This way, you will prepare yourself for the final moment and it will be easier for you to calm down if you feel calm again.
Master your imagination
The imagination has a function to perform, that is, it is responsible for our goals and objectives, and allows us to be able to plan our life and dream. However, at times, the imagination can play tricks on us.
When we have a certain expectation or when a new circumstance arises, it is natural to think about what will happen. We are usually able to imagine scenarios that we could classify on a scale ranging from most favorable to least. However, there are people who can only imagine those at the lower end of this scale and who, therefore, place too much emphasis on the likelihood of negative events occurring.
This is common when people think the world is a hostile, obstacle-filled place made to punish us. The 7/11 rule must be applied. This technique allows us to place ourselves in a dimension that makes us understand in a realistic way the probabilities that different situations will occur.
Rationalize your emotions
When you suffer from anxiety, it is difficult to think clearly. Our mind becomes clouded. Our emotions dominate us. When emotions subside, only then can we begin to calm down. By rationalizing the emotions, we will be able to change the brain switch and move from the emotional brain to the thinking one.
To do this, imagine a scale of 1 to 10 and value your fear. By doing this, your brain will think and struggle against emotional domination. Once you have given a value to your fear, visualize the value as if it were a thermometer and you will realize that the level will drop little by little.
