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Mojo Monday - How to Overcome the Morning Anxiety Trap · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

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  Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to this week's Mojo Monday. I'm Carlie Taylor,
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  Speaker 1: and today I'm going to talk about an experience that
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  Speaker 1: many people have, and that is waking up with a
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  Speaker 1: sense of anxiety or dread. It's that heavy feeling when
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  Speaker 1: the day hasn't even started, but your mind's already frantic
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  Speaker 1: or running on overdrive, or as I said, that heaviness
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  Speaker 1: that you can feel when there's this sort of sense
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  Speaker 1: of dread for the day. So let's talk about how
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  Speaker 1: we can manage this effectively. And I'm going to share
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  Speaker 1: a really simple but effective approach that has been inspired
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  Speaker 1: by psychologist Nick Wignall. So we're going to call this
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  Speaker 1: the morning anxiety trap. So that's what we wake up with,
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  Speaker 1: this feeling of anxiety, and our first instinct is to
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  Speaker 1: try and fix it. So we start asking these questions,
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  Speaker 1: why am I feeling like this? Or what do I
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  Speaker 1: need to do to get rid of this anxiety? And
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  Speaker 1: then we start over analyzing, trying to think of, well,
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  Speaker 1: what's happened or what may happen, and then this results
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  Speaker 1: in worrying and overthinking about how we can make our
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  Speaker 1: way out of the discomfort that we're feeling, and it's
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  Speaker 1: not a great way to start the day. So anxiety
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  Speaker 1: isn't something that we can think our way out of.
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  Speaker 1: So when we've got a problem in our external world,
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  Speaker 1: we're really good at solving problems, but we can't apply
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  Speaker 1: that same approach to our internal world. And the more
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  Speaker 1: you stay in bed and ruminate, the stronger the association
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  Speaker 1: becomes between waking up and feeling anxious, and then it
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  Speaker 1: becomes a habit. So instead, what Nick Wignol advisors is
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  Speaker 1: to take the focus away from the thoughts and go
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  Speaker 1: directly to behavior. So you shift your focus from the
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  Speaker 1: overthinking to taking action. And these are small, purposeful actions
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  Speaker 1: that will help you short circus the anxiety response. So
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  Speaker 1: what you do is going to sound really simple when
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  Speaker 1: I say it, but please know that I know that
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  Speaker 1: actually doing it is not as simple as talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: And that is you get out of bed immediately. So
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  Speaker 1: the moment you wake up and you feel that wave
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  Speaker 1: of dread or you feel that anxiety wherever it is
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  Speaker 1: in the body, don't linger in bed. Don't stay there
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  Speaker 1: and try and think your way out of it. And
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  Speaker 1: your mind is going to come up with so many
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  Speaker 1: excuses because it tends to do that anyway, first thing
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  Speaker 1: in the morning, when the alarm goes off, you know,
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  Speaker 1: to be like, oh, well, I didn't sleep well the
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  Speaker 1: night before, so you know, I just need to get
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more sleep. I just need a few
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  Speaker 1: more minutes. But the thing is with that is staying
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  Speaker 1: in bed to try and figure it out. It only
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  Speaker 1: reinforces this link between lying there and feeling anxious. And
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  Speaker 1: it's really hard, as I said, especially when you're tired.
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  Speaker 1: But getting up immediately is the first step to breaking
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  Speaker 1: this cycle. And it reminded me of Mel Robin's technique.
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  Speaker 1: So Mel Robins, who I'm sure many of you know,
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  Speaker 1: she's got the five four three two one technique and
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  Speaker 1: this can come in really handy. So the moment you
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  Speaker 1: feel this hesitation creeping in, you count five four three
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  Speaker 1: two one and you move. You get your feet on
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  Speaker 1: the floor, You take that first step and you get
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  Speaker 1: out of bed. Hardest part done. And then once you're up,
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  Speaker 1: drink a glass of water, because that will not only
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  Speaker 1: hydrate yourselves, but it will be the first little boost
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  Speaker 1: of energy. And these simple actions aren't just about waking
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  Speaker 1: up your body. They're signaling to your brain that it's
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  Speaker 1: time to shift gears, and this is where the beautiful
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  Speaker 1: Japanese approach to life Icky Guy comes in. So next,
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  Speaker 1: what you do is something that brings you joy. So
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  Speaker 1: don't reach for your mobile phone and start reading the
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  Speaker 1: negative news or looking at other people's perfect posts. Create
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  Speaker 1: a routine that's just for you, one that feels enjoyable
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  Speaker 1: and grounding, and the goal is to give your brain
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  Speaker 1: something positive to look forward to, so it helps rewire
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  Speaker 1: those neuron connections over time. So I'll give you some ideas.
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  Speaker 1: First one is to make your bed. Now, this might
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  Speaker 1: not sound very enjoyable, but if the first thing you
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  Speaker 1: do is make your bed, you've ticked off something productive,
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  Speaker 1: like a productive action straight away, right from the get go,
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  Speaker 1: and then you'll get rewarded with a little dose of dopamine,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the dope mean of motivation, so you're more
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  Speaker 1: likely to do it again. The next one is something
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  Speaker 1: that I do as something I really look forward to.
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  Speaker 1: It's my little Icky Guy experience every morning, and that
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  Speaker 1: is I go and make a cup of coffee and
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  Speaker 1: I really savor it, so I'm not being distracted doing
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  Speaker 1: other things. I actually will sit and I might journal
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  Speaker 1: or I might read, or I might actually just sit
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  Speaker 1: and look out the window and just really really enjoying
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  Speaker 1: my coffee, and it's something that I look forward to
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  Speaker 1: and it does get me out of bed. Other ideas
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  Speaker 1: you could watch the sun rise or take just a
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  Speaker 1: moment outside. You can go hang with your dogs, or
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  Speaker 1: spend time with whatever pets that you have, go for
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  Speaker 1: a walk, journal cook breakfast, or start doing lunches for
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  Speaker 1: your kids. And this is another one that I really
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  Speaker 1: enjoy doing, is making my kids lunches. And I think
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  Speaker 1: it's because it brings me joy to know that they're
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  Speaker 1: preparing something that's really nutritious for them, and that brings
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  Speaker 1: me joy knowing they've got a nutritious and tasty lunch.
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  Speaker 1: Or you could read a book or listen to music,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it is. The specific activity doesn't really matter. It's
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  Speaker 1: as long as you enjoy it, as long as it's
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  Speaker 1: something that brings you a little bit of joy in
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  Speaker 1: the morning. And then you do it consistently, because what
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  Speaker 1: you're doing is you're training your brain to associate waking
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  Speaker 1: up with action and positivity rather than dread. So rewarring
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  Speaker 1: these habits, it takes time. Initially, your mind might pull
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  Speaker 1: you back in to worry mode or that feeling of
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  Speaker 1: dread mode because it's been your default setting for so long.
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  Speaker 1: So these things do take time, and there is a
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  Speaker 1: level of comfort in the familiar. But each time you
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  Speaker 1: resist the urge to stay in bed and instead dive
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  Speaker 1: into this new routine, you're taking these small but powerful
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  Speaker 1: steps towards change. So morning anxiety and dread that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: have to define your day, but it can if you
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  Speaker 1: allow it to. So by taking these small, consistent actions,
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  Speaker 1: starting with getting out of bed, you can retrain your
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  Speaker 1: brain to approach the mornings with calm and purpose and
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  Speaker 1: even a sense of joy. So remember, it's not about perfection,
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  Speaker 1: it's about showing up and taking that first step. So
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  Speaker 1: I challenge you, if you do go with morning anxiety
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  Speaker 1: or morning dread tomorrow morning, when that wave of worry hits,
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  Speaker 1: try the five four three two one technique. Get out
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  Speaker 1: of bed, grab a glass of water, and then start
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  Speaker 1: your day with something that brings you joy, something that
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  Speaker 1: you're going to enjoy. So thank you for joining me.
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  Speaker 1: Hope you all have a great week and I will
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  Speaker 1: catch you next Monday.