I’m sat here starting to write this blog post with snow hammering down outside, I’m feeling anxious as anything as I know I have to go out in it today. I’m worried the snow will start settling meaning it makes it difficult to drive, I’m worried there could be something wrong with the car as the snow has settled on it, I’m worried there may not be a parking space at the end of my journey. To summarise, this is the anxiety I’ve experienced this morning and lately I’ve been experiencing anxiety all over the place.
“We live in a world where things are becoming so stressful.”
My anxiety is making it more and more difficult for me to simply step outside the front door, however I’ve got several coping mechanisms to help be battle my anxiety. As an autistic person I get much more anxiety than a neurotypical person as things like socialising are a whole lot harder. Today we live in a world where things are so stressful, we always have to stay up to date with the latest trend, we always have to be on the ball 24/7, moving at speeds four times the speed of light. If you’re in a car for example, I always feel pressured to move straight away at traffic lights, if you stop for more than 5 seconds at a green light, you’ll be beeped out. I started reading a book called “Calm” be Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton. She states exactly what I stated above, we live in a world where things are getting really, really stressful and this isn’t helping if you suffer from anxiety.
What Can We Do?
From reading the book, I came up with several techniques I can use when I get anxious. One of these is transformative breathing, this is breathing from the belly not from the chest. I think that’s right anyway, it’s breathing further down into your lungs. By getting more air into your system you’re more likely to feel better and reduce your anxiety. The book also mentions how you can write down your thoughts or keep a journal of your thoughts to help reduce your anxiety down. Another way is to simple talk about your feelings to your family and friends, I do this regularly with my Mum and it really helps. I also mentioned about my walking challenge in my last blog post, this is something I’m doing to get out in the fresh air and exercise.
Read my book “Living With Aspergers: Daniel’s Story” on Amazon.
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