Bad. News.Bears.

Last week, in a matter of moments my regular Wednesday went from peaceful to stressful. For some reason I continue to check emails throughout the day versus just unplugging like a sane person. In said email it’s bad news. Very Bad News Bears (a saying from my childhood when something went terribly wrong). Ok so in a former life I was in a position in which I had to deliver bad news to employees. The rule when delivering bad news is “the sandwich “, basically sandwiching very bad news between good or decent news. Back to this email, it essentially blasted a bunch of shallow yet good news followed by impending doom topped with another level of “we can do this”.

I dont know about you but I am a spiral-er ( I dont even think thats a word) but basically I have a tendency of working things up in my mind in a manner that drives my anxiety into hyper-drive.  Although this email didnt say anything specific to me per say, I still took its words and created all kinds of drama right in my own head.   I cant be alone in this.  Or at least I hope Im not alone in the fact that I blow these things up in my mind. 

As people, why do we do this? The ole over react/under react song and dance that lead to other self inflicted issues.   Never before my adult life had I suffered from the level of anxiety as I do now.  Mind you its ALL self inflicted in my case.  If there is something to worry about, I find a way to worry about it; if there is nothing to worry about, dont you know I will find SOMETHING to still worry about.

I started to come up with different ways to deal with my stress and anxiety to help me help myself prevent being overwhelmed.  A major turning point for me (minus last Wednesday), is I typically dont check emails after 5pm.  If its after 5pm, in my book thats basically the next day so Ill get to it then.  Another item that brings me anxiety sometimes can be social media. Social media is amazing with the fast information and constant connecting with people but sometimes me scrolling all day can allow energies and information that I cant “unsee” or not react to such as various devastation in the world. With that one I get a little help from this app called Moment, it really helps me be mindful of the amount of time I am spending mindlessly scrolling. But the biggest help with my anxiety has been yoga and meditation—-*if you did a big eye roll here I get it lol*  I use to eye roll at it too until it actually started helping me get out of my own head.  

I challenge all of my WorryWarts, Spiral-ers and Bad News Bears subscribers to find something this week that helps you get out of your own head and unwind.  Something that sparks Joy and brings you satisfaction if possible.  If its a social media break, yoga class, working in your garden or whatever it’s time to stop waiting for that other shoe to drop and just push forward.  One thing is for sure, if you live long enough things will happen good, bad and indifferent whether you worry about them or not so you might as well get some satisfaction out of it while you do this thing so-called life.