It's a solo pod today! In this episode, I'll give you the tools I've been using to manage my own Generalized Anxiety Disorder. These are techniques I've picked up through therapy, reading psychologists' and other mental health professionals' books and research, and my own experiences.
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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome back to the show of my scars podcast. I'm your host, Derek Duker. I wanted to do a solo pod this week to give you some of the vulnerability I promised you based on the title of this show. I thought one way I might do that in a helpful manner is to let you in on what I'm working on currently with my own mental health. For me, the top emotion I've been struggling with these days is anxiety. Now, anxiety gets a bad rap. It's a very necessary emotion to have. If you have a good relationship with your anxiety, it can be the driving force to success. However, if not managed well, it can swell. And in my case, develop into a diagnosis of a disorder. Now, just to be clear, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder quite a while ago. And in spite of what I was saying about struggling earlier, I've noticed and my therapist has noticed that I've added a few good habits for managing my anxiety. So I thought I'd share them with you. The first tool I want to share and you've probably heard me say it in previous episodes is meditation. It is hands down my most effective tool for anxiety, which is probably because my anxiety stems from getting overstimulated and then directing that energy into thinking about something challenging in my life. There are several different meditation practices out there, all of which that I found useful. However, in a book called "Peak Mine" by Amishi Jha, not sure I pronounced that right, she writes about five of them and did a good job explaining the case uses for them. I should have probably scanned it before recording, but I think I've got a pretty good grasp of what each of them accomplish, so here goes. There's focused attention meditation, which improves, as you can imagine, focus attention and the ability to refocus after distractions. Open monitoring, which enhances awareness of the present moment and reduces reactivity to thoughts and emotions, which we're gonna talk about here in a second, body scan meditation, which strengthens mind body awareness, reducing physical tension and promotes relaxation, and finally mindful walking meditation, which integrates mindfulness into everyday movements, fostering presence and reducing stress. You know what, I actually start every meditation session with focused attention. I focus on my breath and pay close attention to the sensation of the air entering my nose, and I try to pick that sensation up at the very tip of my nose. I take deep belly breaths, pause for a second, and then I release it from my mouth with pursed lips as if I'm exhaling through a straw. After several rounds of that, I begin open monitoring meditation. Sitting in a comfortable upright position with eyes open or closed, I like to keep mine closed. Instead of focusing on my breath, I allow my awareness to observe whatever comes to mind without fixating on it or judging myself for it. I simply notice the flow of thoughts. If I attach to any of them, I simply bring myself back to my breath and then go back to open monitoring. For a long time, I had issues sticking with meditation. It's kind of silly that I couldn't find the time and energy for something so simple, but it's true. What has stuck with me from peak mine was that Amisha Jha found that, to receive lasting benefits from meditation, you only have to do it for 12 minutes a day, which gives me a target to shoot for and is easier to find time for in my schedule. Now, I haven't stitched together as long of a streak as I'd like, but I'm getting there. I can't judge myself for it or it'll make it harder. At the end of the day, if I realize I haven't hit my goal, I'll try to body scan meditation to fall asleep or calm down. Not sure if that technically counts, but I'm gonna count it. Something else I've done in the past and I'm trying to pick back up now is challenging my limiting beliefs. For example, any statement or thought that you have that begins with I am, whatever follows needs to be positive. If not, you need to challenge it. Ask yourself, is this true? Try to think of a time or situation that disproves your limiting belief. Then begin replacing that thought with a positive affirmation. Create a new empowering belief that you can believe in. And of course, diet, sleep, and exercise are incredibly important. Lots of research has proven that a healthy, well-balanced diet can help us think more clearly, feel more alert. It can also improve concentration and attention span, whereas an inadequate diet can lead to fatigue and paired decision-making, slow-down reaction time, and honestly, a poor diet can actually aggravate and may even lead to stress and depression. One of the biggest health concerns in our society is our reliance on processed foods. These are foods that are high in flowers, sugar, train the brain to crave them, rather than being nutrient-rich, such as fruits, vegetables, proteins. A lot of the processed foods that we eat are actually highly addictive and stimulate our dopamine centers. So, what should we be eating? Well, lots of fruits and vegetables, a variety of them. Foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Nuts, seeds, and legumes are also good. And for sleep, do your best to get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. And stop using your phone in the last hour before you go to sleep. The reason being is that when you use your phone before bed, it will stimulate your brain and delay your REM sleep. As for the exercise part, we all know the benefits. We know we should be doing it. Just slowly ramp up to it. Don't try to go for high intensity right off the bat. Just do your best to get some sort of exercise each day. The health benefits, you know them. But something that an athletic trainer taught me is that motion is lotion for your muscles and joints. It can get rid of a lot of that inflammation, the tight muscles and things. If for whatever reason I haven't hit my exercise goal in a day, right before bed, right after or before I meditate, I like to do some yoga poses, even though they probably don't look like yoga poses to anybody looking at me. But as I'm saying all this, I'm getting some imposter syndrome because those trio of things are the first dominoes to fall for me. However, I heard an interview with a mental health professional who said for a lot of people, if they were to fix those three things, it could probably solve their mental health problems. Something else I like to do if I'm really struggling with anxiety is I will get outside. Back when I lived in a city, I would head to a park. I was lucky enough to have a sidewalk that led to another and finally to a walking trail that led to a park and I would just get out into nature. There's lots of research that proves that it helps. Now that I live out in the country, I can't go very far, but I do go out and water my vegetable plants or just wander around the yard and look at the flowers I planted and it will really bring me back down to earth and into the present moment. And for my last bit of advice, social connections, you really need to be building those. You need to get around the people that you love and you trust enough to be your authentic self around, every week. If you're finding that difficult to do, literally make appointments to do so because it is so important. We've become such a divided nation and like to isolate ourselves and I think that has a lot to do with a lack of face-to-face communication. It does so much to lessen your anxiety and make you feel more connected in what I like to say. I feel like a real person again. When I'm spiraling, I try to get lunch with somebody and if I can't do that, I'll call them, not text, call them. And if we can, then we make plans to meet up. Hopefully you were able to keep up with my brain there, but anyway, those are my current tools to manage my anxiety. What's important to remember is not to get downhearted when you experience bouts of anxiety. It's a necessary emotion that has its purpose. You simply need to find a way to coexist with it and I know that's way easier said than done. However, it can actually help you make better decisions in your life, make sure you get done what you need getting done and push you to chase your dreams. That part is what mine was trying to do for a while when I was experiencing overwhelming anxiety. I realized it was screaming at me because I was not taking steps to pursue my purpose. When I moved back to the Springfield, Missouri area, I was restarting my life and I got financially comfortable at a couple of jobs, which is crazy to think about because I wasn't making much. But I had opportunities to start my own thing, but never did. It took another devastating setback for me to finally say, you know what, if not now, then when? It's not been easy and it's come with its own batches of anxiety, but now I'm trying to listen to what my anxiety is saying and I'll reframe the message if necessary instead of resisting it because pushing it down will only cause it to get louder and appear in more destructive ways. I really hope what I've shared today helps. Looks like it's going to be a shorter podcast today, but I want to thank everyone for listening and I would greatly appreciate it if you would subscribe and if your app allows, leave a review. Also, hop over to Facebook and like the page. This will help me grow the podcast and help people out there realize they're not alone and that it's possible and vitally important to improve their mental health. Further, if you have something that's working for you, please comment that on the latest post or if you know someone I need to talk to, comment that as well, or if you want to share their name and contact info, privately, go fill out the contact form on showmyscars.com. Like I've said before, I'm just a regular person like you. I'm not a professional trying to direct you to medication. I'm trying to find ways I can work on my mental health and everyday life, and I want to share what I've found. Partially because helping people makes me feel better, but also selfishly, it helps me not to feel alone on my walk in life. Again, thanks for listening. Be kind to yourself, take care of yourself, and treat each other how you would like to be treated. Talk to you again in a couple of weeks. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - This episode of the Show My Scars podcast was brought to you by Two Oddballs Creative. There your guide to epic websites, Storied Brands, and Rockstar PR. They're trusted by and have had contracts with such local brands as Stratford Sports Center, the city of Joplin, Missouri, Nixa Public Schools, Club Blue of Springfield, Missouri, Advanced Concrete Technology Incorporated, and Grand Oaks Hotel in Branson, Missouri. be odd and be seen with two odd balls creative.
It’s a solo pod today! In this episode, I’ll give you the tools I’ve been using to manage my own Generalized Anxiety Disorder. These are techniques I’ve picked up through therapy, reading psychologists’ and other mental health professionals’ books and research, and my own experiences.
If you like the show and want to support us please subscribe and rate the show on the app you listen to us on.
Merch, story ideas, advertising questions -＞www.showmyscars.com
Facebook.com/showmyscars
Youtube.com/@ShowMyScars
