Floundering in the overwhelm of rumination, there are signals—a white flag waving, a yellow light blinking—there is something trying to get your attention. I am exhausted. I am really hard on myself. I need help. I need boundaries. Journal Prompt: My rumination is signaling...
Category: Anxiety
Rumination, 2
Rumination plucks you from your senses and submerges you into thoughts. When rumination wins, you are miles away, down a long hallway, in the corner of a dark room, with the door closed, isolated. Journal Prompt: The isolation of rumination feels like...
A Journal Prompt for Rumination
Ruminate: To fixate or obsess on thoughts in a cyclical, unrelenting pattern. Rumination is a bully, distracting you from living, weighing you down with negativity. Journal Prompt: I ruminate when...
Anxiety, 11
Limits. Manage anxiety by respecting your limits. Anxiety can happen when an entity/a person is asking something that is beyond a natural, human limit. Is our goal really to prove that we do not have limits? Then, instead of feeling a sense of achievement, we feel exhausted, we have yet again raised the bar, and conditioned people to our lack of limits. Limits are good. Limits keep us from resentment. Limits help us manage anxiety. Journal Prompt: If I do not respect my limits...
Anxiety, 10
Fight. Manage anxiety by wrestling with acceptance. You can fight with your anxiety, distracting you from the life you are hoping to be present for. Or you can make room for anxiety, accepting that it might be one part of you. Movement toward acceptance releases the pressure of control and allows you to adjust your attention to what matters to you. Journal Prompt: When I fight with anxiety, I miss...
Anxiety, 9
Tolerance Manage anxiety by increasing your tolerance for what is uncomfortable. When you cannot tolerate disappointing other people, you participate in a lot you are not interested in and blow past your boundaries. Thus stress and anxiety. Manage anxiety by increasing your capacity to tolerate what is uncomfortable without adjusting your boundaries. Build the muscle of: Tolerating the disappointment of others Tolerating the feeling of false guilt Tolerating other people's anxiety Journal Prompt: What do I need to tolerate to better manage my anxiety?
Anxiety: Journal Prompt 8
Your attention has power to increase and decrease anxiety. You can marinate on a trigger like a slow cooker set on low for 10 hours. You can attend to a trigger, address what is in your control and move forward. You have influence over your attention. - Journal Prompt: My attention is on... - More … Continue reading Anxiety: Journal Prompt 8
Anxiety: Journal Prompt 7
If you struggle with anxiety, your physical surroundings can be an important variable. Extra noise and stimulation can feel disproportionally intense and overwhelming. - Likely you cannot control all the activity you experience in a day, but you have some control. You have influence over how much content you watch, the conversations you remain present … Continue reading Anxiety: Journal Prompt 7
Anxiety: Journal Prompt 6
Adjusting high expectations for yourself and others is a good place to start to better manage anxiety. - When expectations are high—difficult to sustain over a long period of time—it sets you up for failure, disappointment, and more anxiety. - Prompt: How might life be different for you with lowered expectations? - More on Anxiety … Continue reading Anxiety: Journal Prompt 6
Anxiety: Journal Prompt 5
Stealing your energy. Leaving you exhausted. Unchecked anxiety drains the life from you. - Journal Prompt: Where has your anxiety flailed without check? - More on Anxiety