5 Ways To Reduce Anxiety, Stress, Worry During Uncertain Times

With lots of worry, stress and anxiety in the world, during these uncertain times, I want to share with you 5 ways to help Children and Adults, to reduce stress, anxiety and worry.

Firstly, please give yourself a break, we’re only human, we can all experience uncertain times.

And at the time of writing we are in the midst of the Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic and its an uncertain times for all of us.

You’re only human and it’s only natural to experience different thoughts and feelings, but rest assured feelings do pass, by doing any of these 5 tips, you can help steer your mind, your thoughts and your feelings in better direction.

So, If you know anyone who needs some help to reduce anxiety and worry, stay tuned…

Here are 5 simple tips to help during challenging and uncertain times.

Listen here for the full podcast episode...

Number One - Reduce exposure to negative news and conversations.

We are bombarded by the news and on social media, and constantly watching it on the news, listening to the updates, talking to friends & family, checking your phone every 5 minutes, isn’t going to help you.

I’m not saying ignore what’s going on or bury your head in the sand.

Keep yourself and children informed, with age appropriate, honest information, but limit your exposure to it.

And on the flip side get reassurance and focus your thoughts and actions on how you can help yourself/ and the current situation.

And then immerse yourself in doing good, positive, happy things.

What we surround ourselves with, impacts how we think and feel, so choose to listen to, watch and and enjoy taking the time to immerse yourself in some good, fun, happy & enjoyable things.

Number two - Stay and Create Calm – Do what you can to stay calm and be reassuring.

Remember little eyes and ear absorb everything, so do the best you can to be calm

Your mind is always listening, your mind hears everything you say, so choose to be as calm as you can for yourself too

When anxiety is present during unsettling times, having some routines and structure, can also help to create a calm environment.

And then choose to take time to enjoy some calming activities. Whatever you find calming… just do more of it!

Number 3 – Recognise and Acknowledge Feelings,

Acknowledge and allow the expression of thoughts and feelings, sharing and realising them from your mind can really help.

Otherwise what you fight resist in your mind will often persist.

You can write them down, draw a picture, or create a safe place to put them,

If it’s for a child you could have a worry monster or worry box, it’s a cuddly toy, you put the written worry into the monster mouth for them to eat, my daughter has a worry monster, and the worries normally come up at bed time, so either the monster eats the worry & gets rid of it for her, or at appropriate time, not sleep time, we can talk about it.

But often just writing it down and getting it out of your head really helps. or if you don’t have a monster, you could just make a box, somewhere safe to put the worries.

As an adult, you could do the same, or if you don’t already have one, get a journal, somewhere for you to offload you thoughts & worries, once you get them out of your head, it creates space and clarity in your mind and gives the worries a different perspective.

Number 4 – Have Fun & Play

Get active, if you can, get outside in nature, in your garden, go for a walk, do a workout. At the moment Joe wicks – The Body Coach is doing daily PE lessons for children, which is great for adults too!

And if your fitness is more advanced, he’s got something for all ages and abilities, or just do your own thing, the key is to get active, and release more happy feel good feelings in the body.

But it doesn’t just have to be exercise - Take time to play, to do some fun enjoyable activities, watch fun things, listen to happy music, dance around, read favourite books, simply surround yourself with good, happy and positive activities.

And then repeat as often as you can.

5 – Focus on being present

Disconnect from technology, from the news and take a few moments to enjoy being in the hear ad the now, the power of now as it’s often called.

This could include, formal meditating, yoga, breathing exercises.

There are loads of age appropriate apps or resources available online, I have a range of audios, and free relaxation videos on my YouTube channel

But here are 2 really simple strategies to help you be more present.

The First one, is to Simple become aware of your breathing, tune in to the rise and fall that happens all by itself. And maybe take a few slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Breathing, slowly, calmly and comfortably.

There are lots of really effective breathing exercise, but this really simple easy one, is a really good place to start.

Changing your breathing is one of the simplest and easiest ways of changing the way you think and feel, And the beauty of breathing exercises, is that you can do it anywhere, and as long as you’re alive, you will always be breathing so no one else needs to know you are doing it.

The second strategy & technique is to Connect and engage one of more of your senses, or those of your children, or the person you are with.

this could be through making something, playing, get involved with cooking or baking, go out into the garden, go for walk, create a treasure hunt. Do something sensory and get your, or their sense engaged in something.

Notice or point things out. If you are going for walk become aware of the ground beneath your feet, tune into the sounds of the birds singing, watch the birds flying, collect things and feel the different textures.

Simply notice what you see, what you hear, what you feel and maybe even what you smell or taste in any moment.

So, you now have 5 tips, (with many more ideas within each tip), to help you and yoiur Children reduce stress, anxiety and worry during challenging and uncertain times, or any time really.

If you do these things more frequently, they will help prevent you from getting anxious and stressed, and prevention is always easier.

But then, ifs you practise as a preventative, if you ever need to calm and relax it will be that much more easier to do, rather than you waiting until you feel stressed, anxious or worried and think…

"What were those 5 tips?"… often in the moment it’s harder to find the headspace to apply them.

So, practice and prevention is always the best.

Now, if you know anyone who needs these tips or you think would benefit, please feel free to share this episode with them.

You can also get one of my free audios, Relax and unwind which are great to help reduce Stress, worry and Anxiety, it’s completely free so give it a go.

For Your Free Audio and Master Your Mind Course click here.

Thanks for tuning in and please remember what Your Mind Believes you will achieve.

Think differently, believe in yourself and you can achieve anything you want!

All the best

Christian