Coping with Anxiety in a Stressful World
Keri Offenstein (Off- in- stine)
What are some causes of anxiety and stress today?
· Having too many events/activities scheduled in to you or your child’s week
· Alarms, notifications, text messages and emails make us constantly available to everyone
· Scary stories in the media and around the world can frighten us, and spread our attention to too many possible threats that we do not have control over
· This is “stress caused by a stressful world”
What are some things we can do to lessen anxiety caused by these stressors?
· Pay attention to local news and events, and focus your attention towards problems you can concretely help solve
· Remind yourself of what you do and don’t have control over
· Prioritize which notifications you get on your phone, at what volume, and at what times
· Reduce events that are scheduled into your day and your week—leave downtime (and unscheduled, unstructured time for your children as well)
· Leave time in between events, or in-between work and the night’s activities for rest—try not to move from one thing to another with no time in-between
· Say no. Say no to events, people, places and projects that will not help lead to better well-being for you and your family
· Pay attention to positive news stories—reading about the good in the world can help focus your attention there and balance out the negative
· Engage in healthy activities that reduce your stress, such as exercise, time with positive friends and using creativity as an outlet
