Anxiety and stress are one of the main killers or our modern world. At first glance, they don’t look threatening. However, with time your body starts taking a toll. Your state of mind and physical appearance starts showing signs that it’s time to do something different or you will go down the road. Here is my story…
Growing up my parents tried to canalize my anxiety and stress through extracurricular activities and school. However, as a teenager I started having signs of anxiety with the peer pressure of becoming a lady and school demands. Never realizing what it really meant until I arrived to college. I noticed that I had little tolerance to certain things like midterms exams, people running late, traffic, ignorance, long waiting lines and clients demands at work. I used to bite my nails and even scratch behind my knees until I bled. In my early twenties, I realized anxiety became normal in my life and I needed to do something different to lifestyle. I decided to dig on the subject by reading books, taking a few classes, changing my workout routine and cultivating a patience practice.
My main question was: How to stop reacting to the things I can’t control? I acknowledge it’s a difficult task at first, but with a mindful practice, learning and acceptance I know we can become more patient and less anxious.
How I did it?
Breathe: The easiest of ALL techniques is to practice deep breathing. When people reached to me with anxiety and stress I always say “remember to breathe”. Breath in and out, count to 10 and count backwards to 1″. This easy and helpful technique will get you places, trust me! You are are taking a moment to quiet your mind and calming your body of unnecessary stress.
As Esther Sternberg of the National Institute of Mental Health suggests in the NPR interview, “deep breathing also shifts the body out of sympathetic nervous system control and into parasympathetic mode, a healthier, calmer state in terms of general well-being and biochemical balance.” This curbing of stress hormones (like cortisol), in turn, preserves the body’s immune function and keeps blood pressure and heart rate in check. It’s not only my recommendation but also science!
Reassess your thoughts: What if I told you some of your thoughts are controlled by what other people say? That includes what you read/hear on social media and the news. First, you need to reassess the power of your thoughts. You need to understand that the information you receive its not necessary a reflection of who you are and your current state of your life. Giving power to those words can give you again, unnecessary anxiety. So you need to remember you are 100 percent responsible for how you feel. Let me repeat that: You are 100 percent responsible for how you feel.
Reassessing your thoughts of what is real or not to you will give you more patience when dealing with others. Second, once you master this you need to express how you feel. Being impatient comes from, also, neglecting or ignoring how you feel and expressing it to others. If someone is bugging you in some way or another you need to speak! Tell the person how you prefer to deal with things and maybe this could help your anxiety level go down and avoid prolong days of stress.
Be healthy: being active and healthy is not a surprise to anyone when I say that brings huge benefits to our health. As for me, I enrolled to yoga years ago. Yoga has helped deeply in the understanding of my body and myself. After a busy day at work 1 hour of yoga completely balances my state of mind and my body. Moving forward, do ANY form of exercise that will take your mind out of worries. Also, be more healthy in your choices of food. Sugar and fat could be a deadly sin to your stress live. Try to cut some food that makes you feel bad and replace them with others; like avocado, asparagus, blueberries, almond, salmon, oranges, spinach and among healthy more. Hooray to a stronger you!
Take a break: If the stress levels are too high at home, work or family I suggest to look at your bank account and make a decision to take a mandatory time off. If money or the circumstances in your life doesn’t allow it, go to a place in nature (park, mountain or beach) where you will feel free and at peace. If going outside is not your thing, do something at home that will make you feel good. Take a class, paint, read, listen to music, etc…
Time away from work, school, and the stress of a busy lifestyle is crucial to revitalizing (or renewing) your brain health. Also, try to disconnect from technology!!
Not only time off will help with your patience, but also your well-being. So do your brains—and yourselves—a favor: Take a break. You will return to everything more reinvigorated and calm. And your brain will be tuned-up—ready to creatively tackle the most challenging problems with fresh perspective and energy.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time”. Leo Tolstoy
Hope all these techniques help you have a better understanding of dealing with impatient states or moments. Everything in this world has a solution. We need to relax and understand that with a little push and some adjustments we can do better.
Have a great day all!
PS. Mediation tips here
