6 Things to Do When You’re Feeling Anxious — Like During an Election Season
Plus a blurb about real life, a poem, a peace playlist, and some products I use to help me feel grounded
My daughter and I stepped down the steep old wooden steps, arm in arm, on our way to catch the sunset in Santa Monica, at the end of Montana Avenue. I had invited her to the beach earlier that day, so we could get out into nature, even if a few moments. We laughed going down the stairs, saying in unison “boom, boom, boom, boom” with each step, not caring about the stares we were receiving from people coming up in the opposite direction.
We strolled along the walkway that crosses over the Pacific Coast Highway, and walked down the boardwalk to get closer to the beach. Since we both had our sneakers on and didn’t want to get sand in our shoes, we stayed on the boardwalk. While we didn’t make it to the shore, it didn’t matter. The sky, the waves, the sun, the colors of the light, the hundreds of seagulls. Why so many seagulls, we wondered, but then delighted when they took flight as if performing to a symphony. We stood and looked out across the ocean, like others around us. We said, “Wow” a few times, and “It’s so pretty.”
We stood arm in arm. Piper rested her head on my shoulder and said, “I’m really happy I’m going through life with you.”
“I’m really happy I’m going through life with you, too,” I said back to her.
6 Things to Do When You’re Feeling Anxious — Like During an Election Season
One reason I asked Pipes to go to the beach was because I realized it had been a while since we had gone and I knew that we needed a nice dose of nature. Between school, activities, work, relationships — and the news — sometimes things feel like a lot.
I knew that nature was going to be the balm to anything we were feeling that was out of balance or out of alignment. When life gets life-ing and we forget to do the things that keep us grounded and connected, this is when feelings can start to creep in like anxiety, discontent, and worry.
During a time like now, with the election less than a week away, many people are feeling anxious. There is a collective fear of the unknown and of change. The kind of change many of us do not want.
Here are 6 things I do that help me when I’m feeling anxious to help ease my mind.
1. Clear Your Space
Ever walk into a room and you can feel the energy? Me too. These past years, clearing spaces has become very important to me, whether I’m at home or traveling. Especially when the energy feels stuck or anxious or fear-based. So on a daily basis I light some palo santo, open my windows, and walk from room to room, as well as around the outside of my home (giving special attention to our front door). Or, if I prefer something smokeless, I’ll spray an energy clearing spray (this one is my favorite). There’s something about this ritual that soothes me and makes me feel clearer, lighter, and grounded. I bring this spray when I travel so that I can use it in hotel rooms or other spaces. I also gave a bottle of it to my son when he went to college this year so that he could spray it in his dorm room.
Also, try decluttering. When we declutter a room, a desk, a drawer, a garage, or a closet, it feels energetically like a big exhale. I was just talking to a friend about this the other day when she was looking to declutter, but the task felt monumental. I said to her, “Just do one drawer today. Just start there.” She texted me later to say she did it, and I texted back saying, “Same!” Clutter is a stop-gap to flow in our lives, literally and energetically, and when we think about what awaits us behind closed doors or drawers, it can add to our anxiety. So, just start with one small space.
2. Move Your Body
This is medicine to our anxiety. Get up and move. Walk, run, go to the gym, hike, dance, play tennis, hit a punching bag, lift some weights. It creates such a mind-shift. I try to remind myself this and my kids this. How many times have I heard the people in my family (including me) say, “I feel so much better” after getting some exercise? Many.
3. Meditate and Write
When my kids feel anxious I ask them, when is the last time you meditated or wrote in your journal? When they feel worry, I recommend to write about it, put it down on paper, or take time to meditate. And I give myself this same advice. If I miss a meditation, I can feel it later — like something feels off-balance or I can be triggered more easily. These two practices help to shore up the inner space so that we don’t allow the outer to totally dictate how we feel.
4. Be Careful About What You Allow Into Your Brain Space
Yes, of course as citizens of the world we need to be aware of what’s going on around us. However, when we are feeling anxiety, it’s also up to us to create boundaries around what we are choosing to read, watch, and listen to — especially first thing in the morning or right before bed. Before picking up your phone and scrolling social media, looking through emails, reading or listening to the news, try to start and end your day with intention. Do some of that journaling or meditating, or read a good book.
I started this practice years ago when I realized I was starting my day reading the news or listening to a news podcast and I found myself feeling anxious, down, and full of fear right after waking up. So I stopped that and it’s been one of the greatest life hacks I’ve done for myself. And notice the conversations you’re having with others — what’s the energy? Be protective of your brain and energy space. Ask yourself who you’re allowing to have access to you.
5. Read Something That Opens Your Heart
Piggy-backing on the above, I suggest reading something beautiful or thoughtful each morning. Lately I’ve been reading one poem in the morning. I started this during the pandemic when I bought Mary Oliver’s book of poetry, Devotions, and I spent however long it took to read one or two poems every morning. It recalibrated how I was feeling, how I saw the world, and man her poetry cracked my heart open time and again. Find what works for you to help you get outside of your left brain thinking and into the world of wonder, like two of my all time favorites The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse or World of Wonders.
6. Ask Yourself, “Who can I serve today?”
I wrote about this exercise here after seeing Gabby Bernstein speak in Los Angeles last January. Bernstein suggested that when we find ourselves in fear or doubt about our life and our future, to ask ourselves, “How can I be in service today?”
And every day for 30 days ask: “Who can I serve?” And then: do it. Be in service. This helps us get out of our head and into our heart.
Some Things I Use to Help When Feeling Anxious
Here are some products I use to help me get grounded and move through anxious feelings.
A Poem by Mary Oliver
Can You Imagine?
For example, what the trees do
not only in lightning storms
or the watery dark of a summer's night
or under the white nets of winter
but now, and now, and now - whenever
we're not looking. Surely you can't imagine
they don't dance, from the root up, wishing
to travel a little, not cramped so much as wanting
a better view, or more sun, or just as avidly
more shade - surely you can't imagine they just
stand there loving every
minute of it, the birds or the emptiness, the dark rings
of the years slowly and without a sound
thickening, and nothing different unless the wind,
and then only in its own mood, comes
to visit, surely you can't imagine
patience, and happiness, like that.
Listen to ‘My Peace is Me’ Playlist
I curated this playlist and have been listening to every morning while I write and read. It’s so soothing and puts me in a relaxed frame of mind.
Thanks for reading. Keep holding the light. xo, Laurie
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This is perfection and exactly what I needed.
Love this so much! 💖💖