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Overcoming Anxiety · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at WalkWest.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening when you are tuning in, I just want to say thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend with me.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And today's topic is overcoming anxiety.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there I don't I truly think that each of us are very, we're very unique beings, and there's not necessarily a one specific way that will work for everybody in terms of overcoming anxiety.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I do believe that a majority of anxious thoughts can be dialed down into an underlying fear of am I gonna, am I, am I not gonna be okay?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or the fear of I need to make sure that I'm gonna be okay.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: However, there are some tasks that you can do to help with anxiety.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: But first, let's just talk about anxiety in general.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: What even is it?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Anxiety occurs when um as a as a stress response.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a response to stress in times of danger or crisis, or what we perceive as a threat or danger.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the amygdala or the part of the limbic system in our brain produces the neurochemicals that activate the body's flight, fright, fight, or freeze response.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: So when we think about it, there's a purpose to anxiety.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Its role is to protect us from what we perceive as a danger or a stress.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's making it, it's helping us become alert and get ready to defend ourselves and protect ourselves.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So fear and worry are normal responses to stress as long as they don't get in the way of your everyday life.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: What happens when we have anxiety chronically, though, is we can start suffering from emotional and physical ailments because of the chronic feelings of anxiety.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um some common anxiety examples could be uh extreme fear or a sense of hopelessness.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes with with anxiety, there's a lack of being able to concentrate or to focus.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, sometimes the negative thoughts just seem to swirl and swirl and swirl.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Other anxiety symptoms are feeling agitated or irritated.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, some people will actually feel really tired when there's so much anxiety, they actually just get really tired or they end up with aches and pains or headaches and migraines.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some people will actually will start to feel nauseous.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know that some clients have reported feeling chest pains when they're feeling overly anxious or just not being able to sleep, um, breathing um at a sh breathing uh quickly and from a shorter, um almost like it there they can't get a full breath.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's almost like they're breathing from their throat instead of all the way down into their into their stomach.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: So these symptoms are examples of just how anxiety can show up in a fit in the physical manifestation.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do we overcome anxiety?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, of course, there's there's therapy, there's medication, and there's coaching that can help walk through um how to how to shift some of those lifestyle changes or shift some of those mindsets, uh, shift some of the behavior patterns in order to um work through the anxiety.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm being very clear and careful not to say push it away because the truth is we don't want to push it away, we want we want to work through it.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, one thing that we can do, which I know has worked for people, is being able to just have some physical activity because it is true that exercise and physical activity is a natural stress reliever, just being that it releases the hormones, natural hormones to um allow us to uh feel better about ourselves as well as just uh allow us to um uh it's that it's that that natural hormone release that gets us going.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, with exercise, it can distract us from the stresses.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: It can also allow us a release from stresses.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: My one caveat to using exercise as a distraction method, I believe that sometimes distraction does need to happen.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing that I'd say about distraction is we don't want to distract ourselves and never deal with the underlying issue.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's my one caveat to this concept of distraction.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: However, there has been research that has said that exercise stimulates the brain hormones, known as the happiness hormones, and so that ends up stabilizing our mood, which then will generate feelings of calmness, which allow for the ability to uh bring down the anxiety or the anxious thoughts.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Another way that we can handle anxiety is to write in a journal.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know people have probably gotten tired of hearing journal, journal, journal, but there is evidence to say that when we put pen to paper and we allow our brains the ability to release what's been swirling in our heads, um, it does.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's scientific evidence to say that it improves our mental well-being.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it allows us to feel a sense of release as well as being able to uh almost step outside of some of those thoughts and feelings that we've been having and evaluate them from a more compassionate place rather than when we're in them.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost stepping into a third person rather than being stuck in um in this role of the thoughts.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So writing our feelings and thoughts down can help reduce the anxious, the anxiety and the anxious thoughts.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Meditation is a great way to help overcome anxiety.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: There has been, again, scientific evidence to confirm it.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: It allows you to part to focus on the present moment.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: It allows you to just be instead of trying to solve.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when you're able to engage in a regular meditation practice, there is evidence to say that the ability to handle stress um increases, and therefore the anxiety will then decrease.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: The amount of anxious thoughts that you have naturally decreased because you have this ability to calm and to be in the present moment rather than constantly worrying about what's going to happen in the future.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Taking a break from screen time is a big one.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are several surveys out there that say that people have spent a lot of time on social media.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the people who have spent that time on social media tend to worry more or tend to get stuck in this idea of comparison.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we're stuck in there, that can lead to more anxiety and lead to more anxious thoughts.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: So constant connectivity can almost um exacerbate low self-esteem, right?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we're constantly connected on social media and we're kind of routinely putting ourselves in that comparison mode, it can lead to lower self-esteem, or we suddenly have FOMO and you know, just making it harder to find the happiness emotion in our daily lives.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that can lead to more anxiety.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, therefore, if being you're able to limit some of that screen time or at least take a break from it.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Spending time with your friends and family and those people that you feel trust that you feel are your trusted resources is a really important way to manage anxiety as well.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to talk about what's happening for you, think with being supported through the thoughts that are coming up and just having the ability to spend time with people that you truly enjoy being around and being able to find times to laugh with them, because laughter, honestly, with its natural abilities to reduce stress levels through um the reduction of cortisol, which is our stress hormone, it can help us feel less anxious.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So just being around the people that we truly enjoy being around can help reduce some of those symptoms of anxiety as well.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: If you have difficulty implementing lifestyle changes, there is a purpose to coaching, right?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're finding that you are constantly stuck in these anxious thoughts or constantly worried about what could happen, coaching could be an option for you because sometimes it's about break breaking some of those habits or thinking through, you know, what parts of me are leading me down that path.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And am I able to come to a place of understanding and compassion and shift those so then we can shift some of those behaviors.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to explore some of that with me, by all means, feel free to book a call at chatwithcomedy.com.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com or visit our website at www.comedywood.com.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.