“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥?”

“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞?”

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬.”

“𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭…”

Majority of us at some point in our lives have felt anxious.

Even the most composed individual may become a little anxious when faced with work-related scenarios like performance assessments, and increased responsibilities.

Anxiety is always characterized by one thing: it pulls you out of the 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

When your mind is racing with anxious thoughts during moments of concern or fear, this 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞-𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 technique will help you in remaining 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰.”

𝐁𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 before beginning this exercise.

You can stay calm or get back to a calmer condition by taking slow, deep, lengthy breaths.

Follow this technique to help ground yourself once you’ve found your breath:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟓-𝟒-𝟑-𝟐-𝟏 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞:

This is the most common grounding technique because it calls upon all the senses to bring you back to the 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭. It involves thinking about: 

🔶 𝟓 things you can see 👁️
🔶 𝟒 things you can feel 👆
🔶 𝟯 things you can hear 👂
🔶 𝟐 things you can smell 👃
🔶 𝟏 thing you can taste 👅 in your immediate environment.

Repeat this process as many times as necessary. Take your time and notice how you feel afterward.

Identifying things in your physical world slows your heart rate and takes your focus off the intense feelings of anxiety.

This technique is one of many options you could use if you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

If anxiety is something that you struggle with regularly, and you continue to have trouble refocusing or coping with these feelings, please talk to your doctor or a 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹.