One of the biggest contributors to fear and anxiety is uncertainty and the unknown and when chronic illness enters your life, it brings both of those issues in full force.
When all of the things you counted on and took for granted like energy, health and a fully functioning body are no longer under your control, it’s so easy for your fears to start taking over and having endless, terrifying “what if” thoughts and stories constantly at the forefront of your mind.
You feel more vulnerable and fragile than you have ever felt before and when things happen on a global basis that are completely beyond your control like the Corona Virus (Covid-19) that is happening now, so many people feel completely terrified and overwhelmed by all of the fear based reporting going on and the financial and social repercussions that are still unknown.
But giving into fear and anxiety is one of the worst things you can do when you have chronic illness because it creates more of what you don’t want: Stress.
Stress ramps up inflammation, inflammation increases symptoms and sets you up for worsening energy and health and more potentials for pain and autoimmune flares.
So let’s look at some practical mind shift tools that you can use to stop scaring yourself and lower your anxiety levels.
Most of the things you worry about will never happen.
Our mind is an amazingly powerful thing with one major flaw that is both a curse and a blessing: It literally believes everything you think.
Not only does your subconscious mind believe everything you think, it believes that the scary “what if” story that you are telling yourself is happening right now. Which means, it creates all of the chemical reactions that will give you all of the emotions that go along with having that experience, because it believes that is is real.
Which is why worry and anxiety have such a profound and immediate physical impact on how we feel and why it can trigger the symptoms of chronic illness and stop you from experiencing the full benefits of any healing interventions you are using.
When you observe all of the scary things going on in the world or the frightening things that are happening to your body or tell yourself those terrifying “what if” stories about the worst case scenarios you could be facing, you are scaring yourself and keeping your body in a constant state of fight, flight or freeze stress response.
A stressed body cannot heal to its full ability.
So how do you stop scaring yourself?
- Deal with what is real. Apart from taking sensible precautions, the time to deal with something is when it is actually happening. Unless it is actually happening it is just a scary thought.
- Observe your fear and anxiety and find the source. Whenever you find yourself feeling fearful or caught up in worry, check the story that you are telling yourself and remind yourself it is not happening now.
- Use the fear buster question: Is this true? Do you know that what you are thinking or telling yourself is actually true and will happen in the future? Chances are that the answer will be no.
- Stop watching the news, unfollow, unsubscribe, delete, block and remove. While social media can be a great connecter, it is also a big repository of false information, rumour, negativity and fear. Curate what you watch, how you feel in groups, what you get from the people and pages you follow and how you feel about what you read, watch and listen to.
- Stay in the present moment. It is literally the only place we actually exist and can feel, learn, love, experience and grow. Most people live in either the past where they wish things had happened differently or in scary thoughts of the future where everything is going to get worse.
If you are really struggling right now with managing your anxiety and fear and want something practical that will help your mind and body relax deeply, you can get my Relaxed Hypnotherapy bundle right here.
It will give you all the tools you need to help yourself reduce your stress, get out of those scary stories and experience my relaxing hypnotherapy any time you like, as often as you like.
Remember, most of the things that you are worried about now won’t happen.
So often, people choose to worry because it gives them a false sense that they are actually doing something because if they didn’t care, they wouldn’t worry, but that is not how it works.
The best thing you can do for yourself is trust yourself.
You have already gotten though so many challenging and painful things in your life and your track record for getting through those difficult times is 100%.
Why would that not continue. Whatever comes, you will find a way to deal with it.