I’m going to be honest with you all – a key component in my anxiety management journey has definitely been becoming a therapist. Getting my Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, completing a lot of training and getting to work with clients has given me access to way more strategies, skills and resources than I would have had otherwise. I have been very privileged in my anxiety journey to have access to more information than the general public and I don’t know that I would be in such a good place with my anxiety right now if I hadn’t taken this path.
All of this being said, I am definitely NOT advising you all to pursue a graduate degree and spend a whole lot of time, money and effort towards becoming a psychotherapist just so you can learn to manage your anxiety effectively. The very opposite is true – you shouldn’t have to do all that to get help. That is why one of the main goals of this blog is to make the information I discovered along the way more accessible. This blog post is dedicated to that goal as well, as I will outline for you the 3 general phases of anxiety management that I have followed to get myself to where I am today.
Notice that earlier I said anxiety management journey. That choice of words was definitely on purpose, as I truly view anxiety management as a journey and not a destination. While I am currently in a period where my anxiety is possibly feeling the best it ever has, I am still proactively managing it and learning new things all the time. I do expect that my anxiety will flare-up again in the future, but I also know that I will be able to handle it when it does, largely in part to my dedication to following the 3 phases below. So without further ado, here they are!
Phase 1 of Anxiety Management: First Aid and Recovery
I like to think of the first phase of anxiety management as the first aid and recovery phase. This phase is dedicated to helping your body, mind and soul heal. When you’ve been in a chronic state of anxiety and stress, it’s normal to feel exhausted and for the nervous system to be very dysregulated. Therefore, we want to commit as much time as we need to coming out of that state of chronic stress and anxiety so that the next two phases will be most effective. This phase can also be repeated anytime you’re coming back from an anxiety flare-up or an anxiety/panic attack.
We might also think of this phase as the chicken soup phase, because it can look very similar to recovering from the flu or a broken leg, for example. When either of those things happen, we probably don’t think twice about allowing ourselves to take time out from our regular responsibilities so that we can recuperate. Recovering from anxiety should be viewed the same way as much as possible!
For this phase, I want you to think about what kinds of things help you to rest and relax. If that looks like calling in sick to work, unplugging your phone and just vegging out on the couch with a cozy blanket watching comfort shows all day, so be it! Or maybe it looks like spending more time connecting with nature or with loved ones, moving your body gently by going for a walk or practising yoga, scheduling an appointment with your therapist and/or going for a spa day for total body relaxation. You get to decide what helps you heal.
This phase is also a great place to use any coping strategies that you may have learned from this blog, another mental health resource or from a therapist. Anything that aims to get you out of the fight/flight response and back into the relaxation response is great. Some examples include breath work, mindfulness practices, visualization exercises, sensory tools or body-based strategies. Practising these more often than you normally would can be very helpful for regulating your nervous system.
Phase 2 of Anxiety Management: Coping Ahead
In the second phase of anxiety management, you’ll be focusing on coping ahead. This means planning for events, situations or times that you know trigger your anxiety. This also includes planning for any potential anxiety or panic attacks. One of my biggest triggers when I was early into my anxiety recovery was mornings in general – I tended to wake up in a state of high anxiety. This told me that I needed to fine tune some strategies to target my morning anxiety specifically. Another trigger now is engaging in new social interactions, so that is definitely something that I keep a bunch of tools and strategies in my back pocket for.
The strategies and tools that you use in this phase might be different depending on the trigger. You can also pull from any of the strategies and tools that you used in the first aid and recovery phase. Get creative here! And most importantly, plan ahead and be proactive. If you think there’s a chance that an upcoming situation will trigger your anxiety, pick some strategies and start practising them ahead of time. The worst that can happen is that your anxiety is not triggered after all and so you just got more practice with a specific tool or strategy – although maybe your anxiety wasn’t triggered BECAUSE you practised coping ahead 😉
Phase 3 of Anxiety Management: Maintenance and Lifestyle Changes
In the final phase of anxiety management, we’re going to commit time and energy towards maintaining a lifestyle that is less conducive to anxiety. Like with the last two phases, there will be some trial and error here. But for a good place to start, think of things you can do on a regular basis to support your wellbeing. Some more obvious choices include getting fresh air and light exercise every day, eating a more balanced diet, limiting caffeine intake, avoiding the triggers that can be avoided and devoting regular time to social connection and self-care.
Once again, strategies used in the previous two phases can also be used here! For example, you might commit to practising some of your favourite coping strategies on a daily basis. Doing this helps to build new neural pathways in the brain, which means these coping strategies will be easier to use and more effective should you experience an anxiety flare-up.
Now you might be wondering why this phase is last, as I know a lot of the strategies and lifestyle changes that fall under this phase are typically the first things that doctors will suggest when treating anxiety. From my personal experience, I found that it was really difficult to commit to doing these things (even though I knew they would be good for me!) when I was feeling anxious and operating in survival mode most of the time. It can be difficult to eat healthy and exercise regularly when your digestive system is out of wack and you’re exhausted from anxiety keeping you up a night, for example. But once I had a pretty good grasp on the previous two phases, it became so much easier to make some healthy lifestyle changes.
Conclusion
I hope this post helped you to visualize a clearer map for navigating and managing your anxiety. It should give you plenty of space to play around until you find the tools, strategies and resources that work best for you in each of the phases. It is also important to remember that the order of the phases is fluid, and there will be overlap between the phases. For example, you might be focusing on Phase 3 and notice you need to incorporate a lot of strategies from Phase 1 or 2 again, and that’s okay! The goal is to mostly focus on one phase at a time at the beginning of your anxiety management journey to help get you back on your feet. But feel free to approach this in any way that feels right for you! And hopefully you’ll start to notice that you are able to bounce back faster after making your way through all of the phases at least once.
I hope you found this post helpful – let me know in the comments which phase you are focusing on currently!
