EP 19: NAVIGATING ANXIETY IN UNCERTAINTY WITH CAROLYN ROBISTOW
Anxiety is something that most of us can relate to at the moment. The uncertainties surrounding the global pandemic are affecting all of us in some way, and worries about health, safety, livelihoods, and finances are intensified by the constant influx of news and shifting circumstances. Joining us today is a local counselor, Carolyn Robistow, to share with us about navigating anxiety and tapping into our resilience as human beings. While we may be confronted with a new level of uncertainty, it is helpful to remember that all of us have successfully overcome significant challenges, including being uncertain at times. In this episode, Carolyn gives listeners a few exercises for grounding themselves so that they are better equipped to cope with the situation, and while these activities do not exempt us from the discomfort, that can help to get us from worrying about the future to being focused on the present. Tuning in, listeners will also learn more about the different ways that anxiety can manifest, noticing your emotions, creating space for both positive and negative feelings, and extending grace to the people around you.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The two main areas that Carolyn’s clientele are currently anxious about: health and finances.
- Carolyn’s unique perspective working with over-functioning, high-achieving professionals.
- The role of our amygdala in keeping us in a state of regulation and how it gets triggered.
- The different ways that anxiety manifests in people who are not normally anxious.
- Being aware of how you feel in your body and when you react in a dysregulated manner.
- Allowing yourself to feel the waves of emotion from a grounded and resourced place.
- Techniques for pulling yourself out of future worry and grounding yourself in the present.
- How to hack the vagus nerve to activate your parasympathetic nervous system.
- Keeping in mind that grounding exercises do not remove but simply alleviate anxiety.
- Recognizing your own resilience and that uncertainty is something we have all dealt with.
- Realizing that positivity and gratitude do not exempt people from suffering.
- The benefits of finding things to be grateful for and sharing them with someone else.
Tweetables:
“The whole purpose that our brain has is to help us exist in a state of regulation and homeostasis. So, it wants us to be safe and protected and comfortable and happy.” — Carolyn Robistow [0:04:06]
“Feelings do come in waves, they don’t come and stay. They may be more intense than we want so we work to bring them into smaller, more tolerable waves but overall, they tend to be waves and are temporary.” — Carolyn Robistow [0:09:56]
“Anxiety is like getting lost in future worry. Grounding is meant to bring us into the here and now.” — Carolyn Robistow [0:13:34]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
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