That intense, excessive, persistent worry and fear. On the surface everything looks fine. But on the inside its constant ruminating, agitation and sometimes terror.
Is it caused by menopause? Good question.
Changes in our hormone levels definitely can influence neurotransmitters in our brain.
But no matter what, it is anxiety and it can get in the way of life.
How do I know this? I know it because I am a recovering anxiety-sufferer.
My anxiety was overwhelming and getting in the way of my life. I had convinced myself that worrying was productive. That it served a purpose. I thought I was solving problems, preparing myself and finding solutions. But it became excessive, stress provoking and exhausting.
And it kept my natural fight or flight trigger turned on most of the time. It affected my sleep, muscles, immune system and weight. My mind never rested and boy did I have hot flashes and night sweats.
So, what did I do?
I decided I wanted to navigate my way through controlling it, rather than letting it control me.
Like everything I do for myself and my clients, I first focus on targeted nutrition, stress reduction and making sure blood sugar stays balanced. And then I add in mindset.
For anxiety I do something that has proven to be a game changer.
What might that be? I schedule worry time. Same time every day, just like brushing my teeth. I set a timer for 15-minutes, sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and I write down all my worries. If I don’t get them all in, I stop at 15 minutes and schedule another 15 minutes for later in the day.
My goal is to train my brain to delay worrying until my scheduled time.
So, now when worries pop into my head, instead of indulging in ruminating and recycling them day and night, I compartmentalize them by using my worry time.
And I use a three-step process to manage the triggers and mind traps that feed my worries. Here are the steps.
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- Recognize the trigger.
- Take notice of the thoughts and feelings associated with the trigger.
- Replace them with a new positive behavioral pattern.
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Of course, I still experience anxiety and I always will. But when I start to go down the rabbit hole of worry and anxiety, I remind myself that I can worry all I want during my scheduled worry time.
And guess what the side effect of this has been? My hot flashed are no longer fed by the stress hormones I was producing so they have tamed considerably. I experience more deep restorative sleep and that resistant weight that I couldn’t exercise or diet away…gone.
If you experience anxiety, try this and let me know if it works.
So that’s it for today, until next time,
Patti
P.S. If you feel like you need a plan of action to help you resolve weight loss resistance and tame your menopause symptoms, let’s talk. I vow to help you make that happen without any diets or giving up your lifestyle. Click here to set up a time to talk.