Starting off this semester I want to talk about anxiety, which is something I have struggled with for a very long time. Typically, each semester starts off smooth but the more I think about deadlines and the quality of work I start getting stressed out. With working full time, being a full-time grad student, and trying to make time for a personal life, finding a good work life balance is a must. What do you do to find that balance?
A lot of the time I get so overwhelmed with the idea of even hanging out with my friends, which is something I want to do, but become so anxious about, that I end up staying home. When I ask for help, I always get told something along the lines of getting a day planner, laying out exactly what needs to be done and at what times, but that doesn’t work for everyone. I also like to procrastinate which adds even more anxiety! This is something that I have worked on for a long time, and over the past two years started setting a few new routines to help.
Here is a place that I want to start helping people explore their options when it comes to anxiety. There are so many, and I mean SO many different options to try and maybe I will talk about different ones later on but here are a few suggestions. Over the time of COVID I learned a lot about spirituality, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but there are points to it that anyone could try and benefit from. Ever heard of color therapy?
Color therapy is used to treat physical and mental illness by balancing the body’s energy centers (aka. Chakras). Due to TikTok, I am going to suggest that a good majority of you have LED color changing lights in your rooms. If not, maybe now is the time to get some! Next time you need to study try changing the lights to orange for productivity. Feeling tired? Try changing the lights to red for physical energy and stamina. Color therapy has been around for a long time and is used often. Typically with the color of buildings and walls inside, but now it’s easier than ever with the many different lighting options.
This is one way to get your productivity going and help stop that procrastination, but let’s say it’s getting to the point of an anxiety attack. Color therapy can help calm the nerves too; using colors like indigo for calmness or violet can help get you into a meditative zone. Meditation has changed the amount of anxiety and panic attacks I have gotten tremendously. Though, meditation isn’t something that I was initially drawn to because it seemed like it would be too hard for me which is a reason why I think many people don’t want to try it, it really changed my life.
Meditation is super easy when you find your way of doing it. Here is my suggestion for you all to try. Try to find the best way to meditate for you, all you must do is think about a time that you felt time pass but weren’t too aware of what was going on around you.
For example, have you ever drove home and made it to your driveway and don’t remember how you got there? Some people can easily quiet their minds and meditate sitting on the floor for an hour. Other people do active meditating. I enjoy taking long drives because I can find that zone for me. Maybe painting works for you? Or even going on a hike? For now, I challenge everyone to take 10 minutes out of their week to dedicate time for yourself. I recently read about how the cold helps calm the nerves, much like how athletes take ice baths. Let us take some time to find some peace and find a moment of calmness each week.
If you have those color changing lights, or even if you turn on your TV to a purple screen and turn off the rest of your lights. Get a cold compact (or a bag of frozen peas!) and place it on your chest. Lay down on your bed or the floor. The point of meditation isn’t to empty your mind of all thoughts but to understand why you are thinking those thoughts.
Just lay there, relax, and let whatever, drift into your mind and then think about why you are thinking about those things. You can even find a guided meditation video if that will help. I found that taking even 5 minutes a week to just lay there and purposefully try to relax helps me find clarity on what’s important and needs to be focused on and what I can just let go of.
I believe that my source of anxiety came from over thinking and finding it difficult to establish importance on different tasks. I really hope that this can benefit some of you out there. Even if you’re even a little bit curious, modify it to find what works best for you and try it out!
