You are standing in line at the grocery store and all the sudden panic sweeps over you. Your legs start to get that awful hot, shaky feeling, you feel warm and hot and dizzy, you start to breath faster and as you do your heart starts to race. The room feels as if it's spinning and you immediately feel the need to run. This is an anxiety attack.
Take a deep breath, it's all going to be okay because in this piece I outline my top 5 tips for stopping an anxiety attack before it sends you screaming out of the store, running for your car.
1. Stop it before it gets worse: This is the best trick I've found to keep my anxiety attack from taking over. When those feelings begin to set it, I take my lavender oil out of my purse right away and I hold it up to my nose and smell, smell, smell. You may think this is silly, but it works! Nothing else works as quickly for me so try this before you leave the situation. It's not the store's fault you are having an anxiety attack. Remember that. You can purchase my favorite lavender essential oil here: My favorite lavender oil.
2. Take Sedalia. I get asked multiple times per day what I take when feelings of anxiousness arise or when I wake up feeling funky and this is the stuff. I haven't found anything else on the market that works like Sedalia does, plus it's all natural. I don't have to worry about wonky side effects while taking Sedalia. In fact, the only side effects it has is helping bring me from 100 down to a 40. And that's impressive!
3. Take 5 long deep breaths. It doesn't matter where you are when anxiety strikes, you can take 5 deep breaths and no one will be the wiser. Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, then release for 5 seconds. At first, your breaths may be shallow and quick, but really take a moment and take your time with it. Breathe in, hold, breathe out, breathe in, hold, and breathe out. And so on until you start to feel calmer. This will slow your heart rate down and will bring your thoughts back to focus. Focus on the breath while doing this, not on how anxious your feeling. Take your time with it and give it a few breaths to work. It will, I promise you.
4. You can leave at any time. Walk away. If you are having an environmental trigger that is causing you anxiety, step away from the situation. You don't have to leave permanently, but take 5-minutes for yourself, get outside, and breathe in some fresh air. You'll feel better because you have to remember this: You can leave at any time. You are not being forced to stay where you are and if you have someone who is forcing you to stay in an uncomfortable situation, you may want to leave them as well. Walking away gives you the power, not your anxiety.
5. Thoughts Checklist: Do a thoughts checklist when you feel anxiety coming on. Ask yourself this: Is this thought helping or hurting me right now? Am I contributing to my anxiety or calming it? Is my thought causing me emotional stress? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you are letting your anxiety take over. It's easier to stay sucked in the rabbit hole than it is to crawl out of it, but you'll feel better and lighter if you do. Wade through the muck and ask yourself if what you are thinking about is helping. When you start to feel the anxiety climb, go to your happy place in your mind. Mine is on the beach in Kaui and it works every time to set me straight.
I hope my top 5 tips for stopping anxiety in it's tracks help you. I know how hard and paralyzing anxiety can be and that's why I share my story with you guys. I want to be able to help as much as I can.
Comment below and let me know if any of these tricks work for you.
Danyele Peters
Awesome!