Generally speaking, I think everyone struggles at times with following through with their master plan. It's easy to get sidetracked and a bit off course when stuff hits the fan and we don't have a Plan B in action (pun intended). It's harder though for a person to let cooler heads prevail when you start to freak out over the curveballs life may throw at you. It's uncomfortable for most to identify the things that are unsettling in their hearts and minds all in fear that things will spiral out of control. But, the real tea is that when we choose to ignore the things that cause us grief, uncertainty, or anxiety, we push ourselves down a slippery slope of denial and backtracking that only creates more problems in most cases.
Ridding yourself of anxiety over life's curveballs isn't an easy issue to tackle, but this article gives a few steps that, if put into action appropriately, can help release some of the burden off of your shoulders:
Think It Over
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In the airline industry, before they begin their emergency procedures, they use a technique to help keep them in order under duress, called STOP, THINK, and LOCATE. Asking the questions of who, what, where, and why of a situation, can really help you narrow down why you may feel the way you do. Oftentimes when we are feeling anxious, we don't have a moment to analyze what triggered us to get in the frantic state of mind that we are in. Narrowing down the source of the problem and trying to understand why it caused you to feel a certain way can keep you from a painful headache and a possible heartache too.
Take Yourself Out of The Equation
Think of a scenario where you were the one giving the advice. What would you tell a stranger or a close friend? How would you want them to feel after you give them advice? Most times we can't visualize how we are going to get ourselves out of a jam, but when it comes to others we seem to have all the right answers to solve the problems in their lives. Let's try using that same tactic when it comes to self.
If we step outside the scenario and imagine someone else what advice we would give them, would this advice work if it were us too? Ask the necessary questions from a different standpoint and see how things unveil themselves.
Use the Process of Elimination
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It's easy for us to think of all the possibilities that could go wrong. But once we're done doing that, what are we left with? If we were to place that same energy into finding a solution to various possibilities instead of whether or not the outcome was favorable, it could potentially save us time, money, and the onset of stress. If you're going to make a list and check it twice, just make sure you are focusing more on what you can do at that current moment versus what you should have done beforehand. There's no point in stressing over the woulda, coulda, shouldas, but there is validity in eliminating certain tactics and techniques in dealing with different manners to help you from ending up back at square one again and again.
Prioritize Your Responsibilities
What's the rush to get everything done all at once? Learning to prioritize our responsibilities is key to creating healthy balance in our lives. As much as we would like to think that we are Superwoman, we simply aren't. If you're being realistic with yourself, you have to create a to-do list of all the things you may need to accomplish, whether that be daily or weekly. Once you have the list, break it down to what's your top priority and what can take a backseat for the current moment.
Try giving yourself set deadlines so you can have a target of when you need one thing completed in order to move forward to another task. You move with ease when you have a goal in mind and can identify what's of the utmost importance to complete and what things you can swing back around to.
Acknowledge the Fears
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What are you afraid of? Dig deep girl, get you a pen and pad and really get to the core of why you are so anxious about a certain scenario. It's hard to face our fears head-on because the act of acknowledging them makes it all too real for some. But if we never face our burdens and the things that we struggle with, how can we conquer them and move on from them? Ask yourself the question of, what is it that I fear? And simply get down to the bottom of why you fear whatever it is by listing all the factors at hand. You can do it Queen! Face your issues and watch how you emerge with clarity, realization, and understanding. It's your life and you are the master of it, take control.
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