I recently created a poll asking whether morning or night anxiety was more prevalent…?? Morning Anxiety measured at 70% so I thought I would share a few tips with you all on how to manage that dreaded morning anxiety!
SETTING INTENTIONS
How you start you day and end your night plays a huge role in your anxiety levels. Making a conscious effort to begin the day with awareness and the right intentions can really shift your fear and focus. If you start the day with negative self talk and make predictions such as
“This is going to be the worst day ever!”
“I will never get through the day”
“I feel terrible”
You, without realising end up setting yourself up for disaster because you subconsciously tick the boxes off your list of predictions EVERYTIME something remotely ‘bad’ happens! By bad I mean.. it starts raining, your printer runs out of ink, you forget to turn the dishwasher on or end up stuck at a couple of red lights! Things that if you were having the most AMAZING day in the world wouldn’t bother you in the slightest. Therefore, setting your morning intentions places you back into the driver’s seat and gives you the choice and opportunity to clear your mind and re-connect with you and your surroundings.
Setting your intentions can be achieved by giving yourself 5 minutes when you wake up, taking a deep breath and visualising how you would like your day to look? How you would like to feel or react if something negative came up in your day rather than leaving up to chance and letting the day run you. You can do that by starting the day with some breathing, meditation and inclusions of positive mantras can definitely take the experience to the next level! Visualise it, Feel it, Believe it!
LAY OFF THE PHONE!
It is so easy to wake up and turn to your bedside table, grab your phone and start scrolling through your social media to catch up on everything you missed while you were getting some ZZzzzzs. I am totally guilty of doing this! Give yourself some time to wake up properly, do some conscious breathing and practice the mindfulness of spending time in the moment, not worrying, stressing or thinking about anything else for those few minutes EXCEPT focusing on you and preparing for the day ahead. I know all you parents out there are about to through the ‘its not that easy with kids’ card at me – and I totally hear you! There is no slow, rosey wake ups for me either… although this can be done and tailored to suit you and your lifestyle and routine. Mindfulness can be spending time with your little ones in the morning, focusing on some time together and being present, in the shower or while you brush your teeth. Reminding yourself to shift your awareness back to the now when it wonders off is all part of the dance, the wondering mind can be persistent, so don’t give up!
NIGHT TIME RITUAL
How you end your night plays a significant role in how your morning will start and the energy you then bring in to your day. I often talk about two main practices to include in your nightly routine that are very helpful. The first one is practicing some good old Gratitude! Getting in the habit of writing either 2 positive things or 2 things that you are grateful for from your day will not only change your mood but program your brain into paying more attention to the good that also happens rather than only the negative things. Us humans seem to naturally favour negative occurrences regardless of how many positives were also included. Anxiety is then also added to the mix and the spiral of thoughts that come with it – it can all start to feel really hard to navigate. The second practice is the Balloon Exercise. This exercise is a great visualisation that helps you to unload any negative feelings, thoughts or emotions from your day. It could even be something that you have been finding hard to shake off and have no idea why.
BALLOON EXERCISE:- Take a deep breath, close your eyes and visualise a bunch of balloons. Take notice of the colour of the balloons, the size and the surroundings. Really picture yourself there. Now think of one thing from your day that you want to unload and place into the balloon. Was it something that happen at work that bothered you? Something that you saw on TV? An emotion/feeling that you can’t shake? Or even just a negative thought you no longer want to carry around and into the next day. Imagine placing it into a balloon and being aware of your feelings and how good it feels to be letting go! Now… let that balloon go, watch it floating up into the sky.. floating further and further away – until you can no longer see it anymore. Repeat with as many more balloons as you need for that night. Feel the weight lifted off your shoulders as you feel lighter as you unload. When you finish take deep breath inhaling positivity/calm/flow/peace (whatever feels right for you in that moment) and as you breath out exhale anything that has been unnecessarily weighing you down and that does not serve you.
This exercise is such a good way to unload at the end of each day, as a result minimising your morning anxiety!
SLEEP
Having a good sleep really sets you up for the day! I know that anxiety has this funny way of keeping you up through the night. It reminds you of situations that happen 10 years ago, a conversation you could have had differently when you were 10, what you SHOULD have done, COULD have done and WOULD have done if you had XY and Z in place! Anxiety keeps you up wondering how the next 10 years of your life is going to pan out, all the people you don’t want to see or talk to at next weeks event and how you wished you could make your anxious thoughts SHUT THE HELL UP so that you can get some sleep!! A vicious cycle if anything! Here are some tips to help you get a better sleep..
– Do the above exercises!
– Listen to some meditation apps/podcasts
– Count sheep (just kidding, couldn’t help myself!)
– Have a warm bath/shower, this will relax your body
– Spend some time doing some deep breathing
– Enjoy a nice warm tea. (A sleepy time tea or even camomile is great to help your body relax)
– Take note of your natural sleep schedule and only go to bed when your tired
– Try to avoid caffeine through out the day especially from the afternoon onwards.
– Play the dream exercise and imagine what you want to dream about and slowly drift off into that dream!
– And keep a note book by your bed and write down any thoughts or feeling that continue coming up. Remind yourself it is now sleep time and that you will address them tomorrow.
Just remember what works for you may not work for someone else so it really is all about trial and error. Being mindful of what tools you like and don’t like and to be honest it is often about using a combination of them and then persisting through even on those good days. Incorporating new practices is all about adapting new changes in your life, changes that are positive and that you practice when your feeling like your struggling or over the moon!!
If you have reached this point I thankyou for reading! I hope these tips will help and I look forward to sharing more in blog posts to come.
I Would love to hear your thoughts below or even share some tips that have worked for you to manage the good old Morning Anxiety!
Much Love,
Amanda
The Anxiety Wellness Queen
xx
