Claire Dunworth-Warby, a Personal, Business and Education Coach, offers some tried and tested strategies to help you handle situations that make you feel anxious.
Flaming June – a month that we generally look forward to as it promises so much: long, sunny days; spending more time outside being active; no longer any need to layer up to keep warm or get up early to clear ice or frost off the windscreen (there was snow this May!); and of course, the longed-for summer holidays just around the corner. Hooray!
However, there is another side to June.
It can be a tricky month for some of us – especially for students sitting exams and those at work having to cover for absent colleagues as the holiday season really starts to take off. These can be stressful times, making us worry – both in anticipation of such situations, and whilst we are living through them.
As these situations occur regularly throughout our lives it’s really helpful to have some strategies at our fingertips to employ as and when necessary.
The great thing, as well, is that the more we rehearse these strategies beforehand and the more we put them into practise, the better we become at them. Soon, you won’t even have to think about them. They will become second nature to you.
So, a few ideas for you:
- Remind yourself about things that you have coped with in the past and tell yourself that you will cope again, in order to gain strength and confidence in yourself and your abilities.
- Replace any negative thoughts popping into your head “this is a disaster – I can’t cope” with more realistic and positive ones “this is annoying, but not the end of the world/I can’t do much about this, so I’ll do that instead”.
- Remember that these feelings are, most often, temporary. Life is full of phases. Can you recall what you were worrying about last week, last month or this time last year?
- Talk to those around you whom you trust in order to get a different view and some perspective on the situation. There is always another way of looking at, or interpreting something, perhaps that you might not have thought of because you are wrapped up in the moment, too close to be totally objective.
It’s a really good idea to start using these techniques as soon as possible. If you employ them from now on when faced with the annoyances and stresses of everyday life, then you will be an old hand at dealing with them – which will be a great help when you are faced with the extra demands and real stress that life throws at you from time to time.…
Every one feels anxious at some points in their lives – it’s how you ‘roll with the punches’ that’s important!
Claire Dunworth-Warby of Aspire Associates Coaching is a Personal, Business and Education Coach working with individuals and organisations one-to-one, over the phone or online and leading workshops across the UK. Training the trainers is also available.
For more information or a free taster session contact her on 01746 218298 or visit www.aspire-coaching.biz
