digest
You know when you get that ambiguous email from your boss and you start to feel sweaty palms and that empty, freaked-out sensation in your stomach? Welcome back, anxiety. Most of us think of anxiety as a bad thing, something to be avoided at all costs. But what if it weren't? What if you could take all of that energy racing around your brain and your body and transform it into something helpful?
Global anxiety levels, both the clinical kind and what I call the everyday kind, have increased tremendously in recent years, and many of us are noticing this at work. We might think of anxiety as something we'd rather just leave on the side of the road if we could. But anxiety is an important tool that arose during our evolution, one that we use to avoid danger. It's essential for our survival. So how come we don't even feel vaguely protected by it? It's because the volume of our individual and collective anxiety levels has been turned way up too high, and too much of even a potentially good thing, like anxiety, is bad.
So I would like to share two powerful, science-based tools for turning down the volume on our anxiety and helping us get anxiety back to its helpful, protective state. Both of these tools begin by connecting with our bodies.
Tool number one is breathwork. It's just simple deep breathing: slowly inhale and exhale. This can be one of the most immediate ways to calm anxiety, because deep breathing directly activates the natural de-stressing part of our nervous system, called the parasympathetic nervous system. I recommend a boxed breathing approach, which is: inhale deeply on four counts, hold at the top for four counts, exhale deeply on four counts, and hold at the bottom for four counts. You can even do this in the middle of an anxiety-provoking conversation, and no one will even know. Lots of people, from ancient monks to modern meditators, have figured this tool out and use it all the time.
Tool number two is moving your body. This one also has immediate positive effects on your mood state, but for a different reason. Every time you move your body, you're releasing a whole bunch of beneficial neurochemicals in your brain. These neurochemicals include dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, and endorphins, mood- and reward-boosting neurochemicals that work to both increase positive mood states and decrease negative ones. I like to say that every single time you move your body, it's like giving yourself a wonderful bubble bath of neurochemicals for your brain.
So when your boss's email comes in and your heart starts to race, what exactly can you do? If you're in an office, try taking a short walk around the block, or even to the supply closet for some sticky notes. If you're working from home, put on two of your favorite songs and dance around the living room like no one is watching. Studies have shown that all it takes is a short burst of activity to get these boosting effects, but be creative with your movement session. Whether that's a quick session of power vacuuming, Mrs. Doubtfire-style, when you're stressed about a deadline, or a set of jumping jacks, or getting off the elevator one floor early to do a power walk up that last flight of stairs before an important meeting, all of these possibilities will help your anxiety levels come down.
In fact, I tested this effect on my own NYU students. First, I had them take an anxiety assessment, before leading them in a movement session that included movements from kickboxing, dance, yoga, and martial arts, together with positive spoken affirmations. Then I had them retake that same anxiety assessment. What happened after our movement session? Their anxiety scores had decreased to normal levels. That's a powerful, real-world example that you can use in your life today. So make sure to incorporate these bursts of activity into your day, and try one out next time you're feeling stressed. It can really make your anxiety feel less all-consuming.
Once you connect with your body and turn the volume down on your anxiety, two important things will happen. First, when that email comes in, you'll be in a better position to evaluate what about it makes you anxious. Is it that you've taken on too much, or that you feel insecure about a particular skill set? In other words, you'll be able to use this emotion, anxiety, for exactly what it evolved to do: warn you about potential dangers, so you can become aware of them and find ways to effectively and creatively address them in your everyday life.
Second, once you find the warning signals in your anxiety, you'll be able to communicate with others. You might seek out advice from a trusted colleague when that difficult issue arises, or you might even have a conversation with your boss about how to prioritize projects. Because you're no longer in fight-or-flight mode, asking for that support won't feel nearly as threatening.
One of the best gifts of approaching your anxiety in this way is that you will be able to notice those telltale signs of anxiety in everyone else around you, especially those forms of anxiety you're most familiar with. And what will that do? It will allow you to give that person a smile or a kind word to help them through that moment. In other words, your own form of anxiety can boost your personal superpower of empathy, and I can't think of anything we need in this world today more than higher levels of empathy for one another.
Your takeaway in all of this: if you breathe, move, and take note of what your anxiety is signaling you, you'll feel more fulfilled, more creative, more connected, and less stressed overall. And that's my wish for every one of us.