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Anti Anxiety Toolbox
The Art of Ignoring
A key tool, I have found, in gaining sustainable control over anxiety is learning the skill of ignoring it.
Now I don’t mean ignoring as in ignoring your problem or pretending it does not exist. I mean ignoring the nagging voice that anxiety introduces into our heads.
Why this works:
A significant part of anxiety is a brain thing, which I will discuss in further detail in a subsequent post. We’re all familiar with the fight-or-flight brain mechanism. We’ve probably heard a million times how this mechanism is activated with anxiety disorders and then never released. Similarly there are other brain centres that regulate the various functions of the brain, including sorting through information and labelling them accordingly.
One centre in the brain (I don’t want to get too much into the neurological jargon for now as it can get a little confusing when all we want to know is the what, why and how of kicking our anxiety’s butt – and mostly the how) is responsible for directing our attention. Another brain centre is responsible for red flagging the things we deem threats.
When we become anxious about something, we are sending a signal to our brain that this is a threat to me. And the brain red flags it. Every time you are confronted with that threat, the brain red flags it to caution you.
What is really happening is the brain is checking whether this is still a threat to you. Once you respond anxiously, the brain maintains the alarm, signalling the amygdala to set off the fight-or-flight response.
This is an important aspect in anxiety control. When that check happens, we anxiety sufferers keep signalling that it is a threat by responding anxiously. The brain maintains the alarm and the fight-or-flight remains activated. The symptoms, such as the pounding heart, the burst of adrenaline etc. keep us anxious and there starts the vicious cycle.
The How:
To end this cycle, we need to signal to the brain that the trigger is not a threat.
This may seem a moot point to us in the throes of anxiety especially because we aren’t usually faced with a physical threat but mental thoughts that never seem to go away. So how can we signal that the threat has passed when it is very much still in our minds.
That is where The Art of Ignoring comes in.
Even though our minds are screaming loudly and our thoughts make an awful lot of noise, we can ignore them.
This may seem near impossible in the beginning because its so loud in our heads.
But think of a nagging co-worker, an over-eager neighbour, a rowdy kid when you’re trying to get work done. In the beginning you are affected by them but as the days and weeks pass, you start to ignore them and focus on your tasks and soon they fade into background noise.
Do the same with your anxiety. Ignore the thoughts in your head and the symptoms.
A Few Ignoring Hacks:
1. When my anxious thoughts are screaming loudly in the morning, I like to take a nice deep breath, roll over lazily and say to my anxiety, ‘Oh not now, I’m having my beauty sleep.’
2. When anxiety thoughts and symptoms interrupt me during the day, I like to turn the other cheek, smile to myself, shimmy my shoulders, hum a little melody and say, ‘Oh not now anxiety, I’m busy.’
Now this is incredibly difficult in the beginning but as you keep practicing ignoring your anxiety, your brain begins to deactivate the red flag and the anxiety begins to dissipate. You will find your anxious thoughts fade to the background and the symptoms become milder. Eventually you will go an hour without even having those anxious thoughts and symptoms, then a few hours, then a day, then a few days until you no longer think of it at all and it becomes a thing of the past. Of course there will be other triggers but getting the hang of ignoring them, will stop your brain red flagging most of them and you will feel like yourself again.
We know with anxiety tools, we have to stick with them. So stick with this for a while and watch how resilient and even defiant you become in the face of anxiety.
Watch for subsequent posts where I will discuss the supporting tools for enhancing your ignoring skill and more anti-anxiety tools.
We got this guys. Here’s to a light and blissful future.
@asilentobserver
