Feeling Anxious

We all experience anxious feelings now and then. It’s a normal response to the daily pressures we encounter, and in some situations can even give us the boost we need to perform to the best of our abilities.

However, when anxious feelings persist and stop us from doing things we enjoy or need to do as part of our daily lives, some extra support is needed.

There are different signs of persistent anxious feelings, emotional and physical such as:

  • Restlessness and inability to concentrate in class
  • Headaches or stomach aches
  • Tiredness
  • Irritability
  • Feeling sad or withdrawn
  • Panic attacks

Identifying the symptoms

Identifying the symptoms is one of the first steps in learning how to manage persistent anxious feelings.

Physical symptoms – Activity. Start thinking about what physical symptoms you experience. You could draw a gingerbread person and label the physical feelings you experience.

Emotional and Physical symptoms- Thinking about the Fight or Flight response can also help in understanding anxious feelings. The below video explains what the fight/flight response is and how it relates to feeling anxious.

Coping Strategies

When we are feeling anxious, having different coping strategies can help us manage these feelings.

  • Take a time-out & do something else. Stepping back from the problem can help you clear your head!
  • Go for a walk, listen to music,
  • Exercise or do some physical activity daily to help you feel good & maintain your health
  • Try and spend time in nature/outdoors
  • Grounding techniques
  • Breathing techniques

Grounding

What is grounding?

Grounding is bringing your focus to what is happening to you physically, either in your body or in your surroundings instead of being trapped by the thoughts in your mind that are causing you to feel anxious.

Being ungrounded – What does it mean?

If you are ungrounded, you may experience the following: –

  • Feeling overwhelmed
  • Struggling to think clearly
  • Unable to sleep
  • Feeling anxious
  • Unable to relax, unwind or switch off
  • Poor attention on a task/lack of concentration
  • Poor co-ordination
  • On high alert – in fight, flight or freeze response
  • Struggling to think clearly

The 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 grounding technique is a great technique to use to help you contact to the present moment and your body more, which can help you to feel more grounded and less overwhelmed.

 

Simply this is saying out loud or in your head.

5 = things you can see, 4 = things you can feel, 3 = things you can hear,

2 = things you can smell, 1 = thing you can taste.

The video below explains how to use the technique.

Breathing techniques

When we feel anxious our breathing will change, it tends to become shallower and quicker. This can sometimes even lead to hyperventilation. This kind of breathing can make anxious feelings worse. By doing some deep breathing we can help to reduce our anxious feelings.

How To Do It:

4-7-8 breathing technique

  • Take a slow breath in through the nose (for about 4 seconds)
  • Hold your breath for 7 seconds
  • Exhale slowly through the mouth (over about 8 seconds)
  • Repeat for at least 5 to 10 breaths

Box breathing

Box breathing is a breathing technique that can help to calm and ground yourself. The below video shows how to do this.

Problem Solving

Developing problem solving skills can be a helpful tool in managing worry as often the problem itself can cause the young person to worry.

Before a problem can be solved, they need to identify exactly what the problem is. In fact, just stating the problem can make a big difference.

Next teach them to develop several possible solutions before springing into action, you could try using this 6-step problem solving plan:

Worry Box

A worry box is an approach to addressing excessive worry and anxiety in children, it aims to take the worry and anxiety away from the child and place it onto a tangible item such as a box.

The first step can be decorating the box if the young person wants to. This can help them to feel some sort of ownership over the activity as well as empowerment in dictating the physical appearance of the worry box. Some children feel more comfortable talking and expressing difficult or uncomfortable feelings while either moving their body or by being distracted by something else. Therefore, this initial phase of the project serves as a beneficial time to discuss, explore, and process concepts and ideas relating to the project.

Next, the ‘worries’ that the young person is experiencing are written down onto strips of paper which are then folded and added to the worry box.

Every day (or however often is deemed appropriate), an adult and child can check in with each other using the worry box. For example, begin by having the young person take out one strip of paper at a time. The strips of paper with worries written on them serve as excellent visuals to spur conversation and processing.

Through discussion, the young person will indicate whether that worry is still bothering them. If that is the case, the child can fold the paper back up and place it back into the box. If they feel as though this is not something that is a worry anymore, the young person and adult can discuss a ritual for disposing of the paper. For example, maybe they would like to rip it into several pieces and throw it away. This is also an excellent place in the project for the young person to exert some independence and control in deciding the mode of disposal.

Click these links below to find out more…

Well-being Toolkit Introduction

Looking after our Physical Self

Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviours

Mindfulness

Support for Parents and Carers