Adults with anxiety during COVID-19
How to calm adults with anxiety during COVID-19 now
The shoulds and shouldn’ts are rampant during COVID reentry for adults with anxiety
An army of shoulds and shouldn’ts may be marching into your mind. I should have a job by now. I am vaccinated so I shouldn’t be afraid to see others. I should be calmer when I go out now.
If any of these sound familiar you may have a bad case of the should and shouldn’ts. We have experienced trauma after trauma this past year. Of course you are struggling in some aspects! You are allowed to be anxious and not everything has to be in place.
How do I drop the shoulds and shouldn’ts during COVID reentry?
Holding yourself with compassion and reminding yourself that you went through hell and back this year do wonders in eliminating negative self-talk. You are allowed to not be perfect. Reminding ourselves that we aren’t on this Earth to have it all together can change the game.
Also, you have the power to view this as a learning opportunity. How can you hold space for yourself and change your behavior? For example, how could you work towards being calmer and regulate your nervous system while in public?
Meeting yourself with acceptance allows space for you to do something that is more supportive to you in the future. It inspires growth. Criticism, judgements, and shame shut down growth and disempower us.
How do I change the narrative that I tell myself during COVID?
Take a moment to evaluate what you tell yourself when you criticize yourself. Ask yourself if that is a fair statement. Is there a story that is truer than what you are telling yourself?
Observing our thoughts and meeting them with curiosity without judgment is another tool for COVID reentry. “What is that thought coming from” and “I wonder why I am being reactive to that” can help us objectively view our thoughts.
How do I calm my nervous system when I am experiencing COVID anxiety?
Oftentimes, COVID anxiety impacts our ability to live life the way we want to and connect with others. It triggers our nervous systems and dysregulates our bodies. According to the polyvagal theory, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is often triggered when we perceive a threat.
If the SNS is the gas petal and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is the brake. The PNS calms our nervous system and body down when we feel safety. The ultimate goal is to achieve a sense of safety and trigger the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).
The vagus nerve wanders from our brainstem to our gut and coils around all of your main organs. It has the power to dictate the degree of activity of our organs and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. We can trigger vagus nerve and cause it to calm our organs and body.
The following are ways to calm your body and nervous system through activating the vagus nerve:
Grounding exercises. Grounding exercises bring ourselves back to the present through being mindful of our senses and our experience. For example, touching at least three surfaces, feeling into them, and describing how they feel.
In New Orleans I bought a gris gris bag that is full of herbs that I still carry around. I ground myself by feeling the bag and smelling it. Engaging my multiple senses, smell and touch, brings me back to the present.
My all-time favorite grounding exercise is to identify five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This exercise helps you fully enjoy the present and calms our nervous system.
2. Diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing has been shown to lower the severity of symptoms for adults with anxiety. During deep belly breathing we press on the vagus nerve as we exhale. Being mindful of how our breath feels and holding the exhale allows us to activate our parasympathetic nervous system.
3. Co-regulation and social interaction. COVID has been especially difficult for us because we are social creatures. We thrive on in person interaction and regulate each other’s nervous systems.
When you are in the presence of someone with a calm nervous system we can mirror that calmness. Safety cues such as a warm facial expression and smile shows us that we are safe and tells us that we can relax our nervous systems.
However, some of us are not seeing our loved ones or therapists in person. This can make co-regulation and social interaction difficult, however not impossible.
Using zoom and joining online support groups can provide us with the social interaction we crave. Being present during video calls and being mindful of safety cues such as smiling can help us regulate during this challenging time.
Grow Good Psychology has a team of therapists that strive to help you manage your anxiety during the pandemic.
The past couple of years has thrown our nervous system into overdrive. We are dedicated to helping adults with anxiety calm their nervous system. We want to help you live your life the way you want to despite anxiety. Our therapists strive to support you on your path to healing.
You have survived the pandemic. You have fought hard to get where you are today. Now it is time for you to embrace your path of healing and live life to the fullest. So, connect with us now to begin the healing process and embrace growth with our trauma-informed therapists.