A Story About Anxiety & Taking Control
During this pandemic, it’s no secret many people have struggled with mental health, including myself. I’m a very anxious person and have battled with bouts of anxiety that have literally caused me to lose clumps of hair. For the longest time, I thought it was because of out-of-my-control stressful events, but over time I realized that I was contributing to a lot of my own anxiety. I was doing this by voluntarily letting so much negative content enter my mind on a daily basis.
We’re influenced by so much around us - the billboards we drive by, the commercials we watch on TV, the people we interact with, those we follow on social media. Whether you want to believe it or not, everything (and I mean everything) has influence on our minds. We have a choice whether the content we consume influences us in a way we want (positivity, growth) or a way we don’t want (negativity, fear). You ever have days when you feel anxiety for no reason? I do. A few weeks ago, I had a day where I was super anxious, in a terrible mood and was looking at everyone like they’re out to get me for what I thought was absolutely no reason. I was thinking to myself, why in the world am I feeling this way? Then it hit me. Earlier that morning, I stumbled onto a couple of news articles on my phone. What was the news about? A deadly shooting in downtown Toronto and how the fourth wave of COVID is “already here”. How cheerful, right?
As a generally positive and happy person, I’ve made it a priority to NOT let negativity enter my mind. It’s not easy, but well worth my mental health. Here are some ways I do that.
I don’t watch or read the news anymore. Good or bad, things are gonna happen whether I know about them or not. I’m trying to get my parents and those around me to do the same.
I listen to motivational speeches, audiobooks and podcasts to get my day going instead of the news or social media. I’ve actually replaced music during my workouts too.
If content I’m consuming isn’t serving me or the person I want to become, I’ll stop what I’m doing and go read or write instead (which helped me discover how much I actually enjoy writing, it’s almost therapeutic and inspired me to start this blog)
I redirect conversations I have with friends and family when I feel like they’re focusing too much on the negative. In some cases, I’ve had to cut some friends out completely because of how negative the conversations with them are.
I try to be more aware of negative thoughts and habits. This has made the biggest difference. In the past, I have a bad habit of negative self talk or of complaining when something doesn’t go my way or thinking of the worse case scenario for every situation. You can’t really stop the negativity from entering your mind if you can’t even recognize it. I make efforts throughout the day to be more aware of my negative thoughts and try replacing them with something more positive.
Social media is a part of the gig when it comes to being a content creator. It’s the internet, so negativity is everywhere. On my social media accounts, I only respond to respectful comments and ignore the disrespectful ones (I’ll block if they’re being a total doo-doo head). I remember when I first started as a content creator, I would respond to the negative comments which would always put me in a bad mood. Just remember - “hurt people, hurt people”,
The bottom line, take back some control of what goes into your brain. Only place and allow things in that serve for your greater good or help you become the person you want to be. It's done wonders for me and is a big reason why I’m able to stay positive.
I know this blog is a little all over the place with likely a bunch of typos and grammatical errors, but it’s raw and what I’m currently thinking.
xoxo Thao
