We continue our series of articles with mental health specialist Patrick Melville, as part of our wellbeing programme for 2023. The programme focusses on issues such as stress and anxiety within the workplace.
In this third article Patrick looks at how we can manage the emotional side of anxiety.
Did you know that 15-21 May 2023 is Mental Health Awareness Week? The theme this year is ‘anxiety’.
The Mental Health Foundation states that ‘anxiety’ is ‘how we respond to feeling threatened, under pressure or stressed’. Many day-to-day situations can cause feelings of anxiety, a natural self-warning function.
Mental Health First Aid England advises that the key is to recognise when levels of anxiety reach the point when they are ‘intense, longer-lasting or interfere with everyday living’ and refers to The Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale (GADS) – a simple diagnostic tool to self-assess levels of anxiety in our daily lives.
It is important to understand how emotions can over-emphasis our levels of anxiety. According to Britannica, ‘emotion is a complex experience of consciousness, bodily sensation, and behaviour that reflects the personal significance of a thing, an event, or a state of affairs’.
A key goal is to accept our ‘personal’ emotions and how they are a reaction to a real situation: ‘I am fearful because…’ or ‘I worry about…’.
A paraplanner who completed Professional Paraplanner’s recent Parameters survey on stress, revealed their thoughts on meeting deadlines: ‘clients all wanting withdrawals, make investments at the same time leading to surges in research and reports. I worry I will miss something”. In this situation, the emotion of worry does not mean that this respondent will miss something, but it is alerting them to the impact of the volume of work.
Practical tips
Here are some tips on how to manage emotions and focus on the reality of a situation:
Wait
It is important to try not to take any immediate action based purely on emotions. The goal is to acknowledge your emotions but not to let them dictate your actions so you can provide a practical and real response to a situation. If you receive a request which drives up your emotions, take five minutes to practice some mindfulness or try breathing exercises. The NHS recommends to breath gently and regularly through your nose and out through your mouth, inhaling for up to 5 seconds and doing the same as you exhale.
Ask yourself ‘why’
Jay Shetty on his ‘On Purpose’ podcast about anxiety suggests asking yourself ‘why’. This question acknowledges your emotions and focus on the real and practical impact of a moment. Perhaps it is your reaction to the current meeting you are in, or perhaps the real issue is because you have just come off an intense phone call with one of your advisers.
Be in the now
Techniques to take your mind into the ‘now’ are useful tools to focus on a current situation and wider perspective. If you rely on your emotions they can take away your focus, for example: ‘I am worried to take this call because of the angry conversation we had two weeks ago’. The goal needs to ensure that your emotions alone do not predict future outcomes from a previous experience, without considering the current situation.
One technique is to focus on our senses around us: sight, physical feelings and sound.
Break up a day or project into smaller pieces
Marathon runners often keep focused by concentrating on separate stages of a race. They focus their minds on each phase, rewarding themselves with a drink as they progress.
Speak to someone
It’s good to talk. Over 40 respondents to the Parameters survey said they believe talking to be a useful way of sharing the load and focusing on the current situation.
Everyone benefits from building emotional tolerance. You might remember in Article 2 that we can re-train our brains. Try one or more of these tools and see if they help you to manage your personal emotions.
Watch our webinar with Patrick on Managing Stress <HERE>
Patrick can be contacted on the details below:
[email protected]
www.melville-solutions.com
[Main image: louis-galvez-I8gQVrDcXzY-unsplash]
