These are unfamiliar times.
In these unprecedented times it is to be expected that we will become anxious and afraid sometimes. Uncertainty for the future will unleash all sort of worries. Some real and some not.
The question is:
How do we manage our thoughts?
Last week I decided to try out my husband’s blood pressure machine. It told me that I had raised blood pressure. So I bought a new machine which arrived yesterday!
You can image how I felt when I discovered it was still high.
I went into a tail spin.
My thoughts went from, ‘I am going to have a stroke’. To, ‘who will look after my mum and children?’
All it took was a decision to focus my mind elsewhere to calm me down.
And I felt better.
We all (most of us) have at our fingertips an amazing library of resources that can support our mental health. For me it was a podcast called ‘I’m still scared’ by Steven Furtick.
Its all about re-framing your thoughts
This takes effort, pushing against the tide that pulls you to a sometimes familiar place.
Even the most uncomfortable places can become familiar.
However, if you can create for yourself a library of go to favourite places of inspiration like headspace. or Brene Brown then you could your change your focus.
And what you then pay attention to.
I still need to deal with my hypertension, but not from a frantic mindset.