Creating Confident Leaders - Focus on Resilience, Overcome The Anxiety Trap

Hello everyone and welcome to March

Despite the storms which we are still experiencing, spring very much feels like its on its way😃

March always represents that uplift in the year for me, we have much more daylight, the spring flowers start to come through big style and everything feels lighter and brighter.

It feels like the right time to also talk about resilience, what I call the “anxiety trap” and how to stay away from it.   If we look around us right now, we could become very concerned and anxious about many things…………., particularly, the corona virus which is garnering a lot of attention and thought right now and of course, leaders and businesses need to think about this and plan for a coping strategy.  

Planning and thinking about how to deal with situations are very different however from getting caught and lost in anxiety.  

Its easy sometimes, particularly with all the information we get bombarded with to allow anxiety to dominate.   We get anxious about our workload, seemingly never ending to do lists, overflowing inboxes and diaries packed with so many meetings it seems impossible to find space for thinking and planning.   We also have relationship challenges both personal and professional, health and family stuff and all the news (mostly negative) which we are constantly bombarded with, even the weather can pull us down.   This can lead us into a default state of anxiety and fluctuating stress levels which take our energy and leave us mentally and emotionally depleted.  If it continues, it can become a serious mental health condition as it does for many people.  We need to recognise the potential for this and take steps to manage it.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post about energy and the importance of taking care of yourself and your energy and this really resonated with many people.   It seems that the area of resilience is one of the hottest topics around at present, which says something about the level of depletion many people are experiencing.  

So how do you break out of the anxiety trap?

I have talked about mindfulness previously and its something I continually work with my clients on.  Creating mindfulness practice in your life, really makes a difference in staying away from the anxiety trap.

Daniel Goleman’s article on a relaxed mind being a productive mind is well worth a read, here is the link if you would find it helpful…..

Daniel Goleman: A Relaxed Mind is a Productive Mind ...

www.danielgoleman.info › daniel-goleman-a-relaxed-mind-is-a-prod...

My other top tips for breaking out of anxiety are:-

• Have people to talk to – peer networks, action learning sets, coaches and mentors…

The most successful and confident leaders I know make sure that they have plenty of people around to share thinking and concerns with……..anxiety spirals when we “stay stuck in our own heads”, other people help us create perspective, so please create a robust network around you to support you.

• Focus on the positive – it sounds so obvious and so trite sometimes but it really works! We cannot “stop” negative thoughts simply by telling ourselves to stop thinking that way or stop worrying.  We have to acknowledge our feelings and then take steps to shift our thoughts and emotions.   We need to replace anxious thoughts by other, more positive thoughts.  Have strategies to shift your mind to the positive, podcasts, books, quotes, inspirational videos and audios are all great tools.  I am also a big fan of journaling, achievement, gratitude and success journals are all things I recommend to my clients to help them move back to the positive when anxiety and negative thoughts start to dominate.

• Take action! If something is really bothering you it can create paralysis and that causes anxiety to spiral.   Decide on an action, any action, no matter how small to tackle what is causing your anxiety.  As soon as we get into action, anxiety starts to subside.

So focus on the spring sunshine, things that lift you up and take steps to break away from anxiety.

Remember FEAR is often False Evidence Appearing Real and you can conquer it!

Have a wonderful week

Warmest regards

Lois