Managing anxiety during a challenging year

Well, 2020 is finally over. It was a challenging year for sure, and it’s only taken 2021 six days to lose some of it’s luster!

This past year we were plagued with an actual plague: a pandemic! Add to that: civil unrest, lack of leadership, economic and financial hardship, for both families and businesses, high unemployment, isolation, a rise in white nationalism and oppression of people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ folx and more! It’s no wonder you might feel anxious!!

Whew! How did you fair? If you haven’t felt any distress or anxiety, you might have been on some wonderful desert island over the rainbow, because here in the real world things were real… stressful! While the past year has been traumatizing for many of us, the question now is: how do we deal with that trauma? Talk therapy can be helpful in instances like this. EMDR is another good option. If you have experienced violence, discrimination or other hardships you are not alone. I offer a safe space to sort things out and heal from these experiences. I utilize both talk therapy and EMDR for trauma. If you have been victimized it’s not your fault. Let’s get you some emotional balm for that and move towards healing,

Some things that help when anxiety is getting out of control:

• Stop and close your eyes, put your hand on your heart and breathe.

• Mindful walking can also be helpful.

• So is activity: As in DO something! I like the exercise of moving 23 things to get energy shifted! (They can be small things… rearrange your bookshelf or your desk! Your refrigerator or a combination of all three for an energetic shift!)

• Radical acceptance: Realizing what you can control and what you can’t. Accept that! Control what you can, let the rest go!

• Talking to yourself with compassion. I like the 2 chair exercise, where I can separate out the conflicting parts of myself and talk it out with self compassion. (The compassion part looks like this: What happened to you? Not: what’s wrong with you? Would we yell, “What’s wrong with you?” at a wilted plant in a blaming way? Of course not! You deserve equal compassion, you are just trying to be your best!

• You can also use the contact form to get in touch with me, or book a consult with the button at the top of this page. I look forward to meeting you!