24: Managing Headline Anxiety

Episode Overview:

Headline anxiety is real and many people in the world are experiencing increased challenging emotions as a result of all that is happening. In this episode I talk about what happens in your body with Headline Anxiety and provide you with many concrete strategies you can start to implement immediately to help you feel better.

What I Cover:

I walk you through a brief breathing activity that will help you manage your nervous system and your stress and anxiety.

I also give you 11 tips for setting boundaries and managing what you are consuming and when. These include:

• Turning off notifications.
• Scheduling set times where you will watch or read the news. 
• Having “no phone zones”. 
• Having “no phone times”. 
• Muting, pausing, or unfollowing social media channels or individuals who seem to be triggering challenging emotions for you.
• Balancing out what you are consuming online. 
• Seeking support from others and giving support to others, with boundaries.
• Practicing self-care. 
• Controlling your thinking. 
• Focusing what you can control. 
• Keeping routines and life in general in order.

Let's Take Some Action:

• Do you need to turn off notifications?
• Do you need to limit when you check the news or social media by setting a timer, making apps harder to access, having no phone zones, or by limiting the overall time you allow yourself to check news and social media each day?
• Do you need to mute or unfollow certain accounts or individuals?
• Do you need to intentionally make sure you are consuming positive information?
• Do you need to set boundaries with others about how much you will talk about things happening in the world, or do you need to refrain from talking about certain topics completely?
• Do you need to seek out more positive support?
• Do you need to practice better self-care and do the things that nurture you?
• Do you need to dump our thoughts out of your head through journaling?
• Do you need to spend more time focusing on the things you can control, versus the things that are outside of your control?

Useful Resources:

Do you worry too much, overthink, assume the worst-case scenarios, spend a lot of time focusing on negative things that have happened, or discredit positive things happening? If so, you are dealing with the human brain we have all been given and you are not alone.

The good news is, you can change this and it may not take as long as you may think! If you want a free resource that will help you examine your thinking patterns, and change those that are not serving you, grab my 5 Common Thought Distortions Guide HERE.

Let’s stay in touch:

Website: www.KarenVincentSolutions.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenvincentsolutions/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenVincentSolutions

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenVCoach

Episode Transcript

Karen (00:02):
Welcome to the Women's Success Coach Podcast.
A podcast created to inspiregrowth and to help you learn,
achieve, and evolve in your lifeongoing regardless of your age.
I'm your host, certified coach,and licensed therapist Karen
Vincent, and I'm here to guideyou and provide you with
concrete tips and strategies youcan implement in your life.
I'm also here to inspire you,challenge you, and cheer you on

(00:26):
so that you can create the lifeof your dreams and beyond.
Thank you for tuning into thewomen's success coach podcast.
I'm recording the shorty podcastepisode about headline anxiety
as a result of witnessing arecent spike in fear,
uncertainty, stress, anger,anxiety, and a whole host of

(00:51):
challenging emotions related tohard things happening in the
world.
It is my hope that you can takeone of the strategies I share
and start to implement it rightaway to start to get some
relief.
Then, you can add in as manyother strategies based on what
you think will be most helpfulfor you.
And, if you find the suggestionsI'm offering you helpful, please

(01:13):
share this episode with anyoneelse you know who may be
struggling during theseuncertain and scary times.
Hey there, my friend.
As you heard in theintroduction, I'm recording the
shorty podcast episode to offeryou some suggestions for dealing
with headline anxiety.

(01:34):
As you know, there's a lot goingon in the world that's shocking,
scary, sad, and well, just plainoverwhelming.
And while I'm certainly not anexpert in what's happening in
the world, why it's happening orwhat will happen next, I am an
expert in helping people managetheir stress and anxiety.
so I thought I would offer yousome strategies you can start to

(01:57):
implement right away if you'relike so many of us experiencing
a whirlwind of challengingemotions.
When anxiety and stressincrease, our nervous systems
get revved up, and when thishappens, for many people,
breathing becomes shallow.
Instead of taking deep breathsfrom the abdomen, we take

(02:17):
shallow breaths from our upperchest or throat area.
And when this happens, it canfurther rev up our nervous
system, which then revs up ourthinking patterns, which creates
more anxiety and stress.
It can essentially become avicious loop.
So, the first strategy formanaging headline anxiety is to

(02:37):
intentionally take slow, deepbreaths that will help you slow
down your nervous system andallow you to take those full,
deep breaths.
So right now, if you're in aplace where you're able to
breathe with me, I invite you totake five breaths with me.
I'm going to count them for youas we go, and the count will go

(02:57):
like this.
It will be a deep breath in fora count of five, hold the breath
for a count of seven, slowlyexhale for a count of eight, And
we'll repeat that five times.
And if you can't do the activityright now, you can listen as I
go through it and come back toit later when you're able to
focus on this breathingtechnique undistracted.

(03:20):
So if you're able, sit or standcomfortably and slowly breathe
in for a count of one, two,three, four, five, hold.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, exhale 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, inhale 2, 3, 4,

(03:52):
5, hold 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, exhale2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.

(04:15):
Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.

(04:36):
Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, exhale2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, inhale 2,
3, 4, 5.

(04:57):
Hold 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, exhale 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Do you feel calmer?

(05:17):
I hope so.
This is a strategy you can useanywhere at any time and you can
do as many rounds as you want orneed.
When you slow down your nervoussystem and take control of your
breathing, you're better able tomanage your anxiety.
So this is always a good placeto start if you notice your
anxiety heightened.

(05:39):
Next, I want you to do anassessment of what you're
consuming throughout your daysand weeks.
Are you watching a lot of newsand hearing the same information
over and over?
Are you on social media, doomscrolling and reading posts and
comments that are full of hate,conflicting information, and
that promote further uncertaintyand fear?

(06:00):
Are you spending a lot of timetalking to others about what's
happening in the world?
And if you're doing any or allof these things, you are 100
percent normal, my friend.
Your brain, just like my brain,does not like uncertainty.
And right now, there's a lot ofuncertainty about the state of
the world, about safety ingeneral, and about what will

(06:23):
happen next.
And when uncertainty is present,it's natural to try to get
answers so that you can beprepared for what will happen
next.
However, the reality is thatthere's a lot going on, and we
don't know what's going tohappen, and exposing yourself to
the same stories or debates overand over doesn't bring about any

(06:45):
further certainty.
Instead, it only createsadditional anxiety, anger,
sadness and fear.
Now, I want to be clear that I'mnot suggesting that you cut off
all news and social media.
But what I am suggesting is thatthere's a difference between
being informed and beingoversaturated with challenging

(07:06):
news, especially when things areoutside of your control.
Overexposure to negative thingscan significantly impact your
overall emotional well being andnot only create anxiety, but it
can also increase depressivesymptoms and trauma symptoms.
It can lower your ability tocope with challenging situations

(07:28):
and it can also cause you tomiss out on some positive things
that may be happening in yourlife at the same time, you're
also witnessing or directlydealing with very negative
things.
What I have seen help withheadline anxiety is to set some
boundaries for yourself bylimiting your exposure to news
and media.

And some ways to do this are:#1: Turn off notifications. (07:49):
undefined
Stop reacting to your phoneevery time you see a
notification pop up.
This creates uncertainty,anxiety, and stress.

#2 (08:04):
Schedule set times when you watch or read the news.
Get that information you need tobe informed, but don't allow
yourself to watch and listen tothe same things over and over.
Try to stick to 10 to 15 minutesor less.

#3 (08:21):
Have no phone zones.
This may mean that phones arenever allowed when you're eating
or no phones are allowed in thebedroom or some other room of
your house.

#4 (08:33):
Have no phone times.
Have times of the day when youtake a break from your phone.
If this is hard for you, use asite blocker, move apps off your
home screen, or even deletecertain apps from your phone so
that it takes more effort to getto them, which will allow you to
pause and consider if you reallywant to be using them.

#5 (08:56):
Mute, pause, or unfollow social media channels or
individuals who seem to betriggering challenging emotions
for you.

#6 (09:07):
Balance out what you're consuming online.
Be sure that there's somepositive things you're
consuming, even duringchallenging times.
As you know, social media willfeed you more of what you spend
time looking at, so do what youcan to control the algorithm so
that it offers you a balance ofthings instead of only things

(09:28):
that are challenging to consume.

#7 (09:31):
Seek support from others and give support to others, but
don't get stuck in only talkingabout horrific things happening
in the news.
Set boundaries as is needed.
Whether you need to let someoneknow that you want to be able to
talk about things other than thenews or you need to let someone
know that certain topics are notallowed due to differences of

(09:54):
opinions, set those boundariesand protect what you're letting
in.

8 (09:59):
Practice self care.
Be sure that you're nurturingyourself when you're
experiencing negative emotionslike anger, fear, anxiety,
sadness, and uncertainty.
Trying to escape with food,alcohol, or screens may pause
the negative emotions, but itwon't make them go away.

(10:19):
Instead, do the things thatnurture your mind, your body,
and your relationships.

#9 (10:26):
Control your thinking.
If you notice that you haveruminating thoughts or racing
thoughts that focus on worstcase scenarios, be intentional
about noticing them and managingthem.
To do this, Set a timer and take5 minutes or so each day and
write down what you're thinkingthat's causing the negative

(10:48):
feelings.
Use pen and paper and a notebookif possible, and when the timer
goes off, finish writing anyremaining thoughts and then
close the notebook.
When you do this, you're tellingyour brain that you know what
you wrote down was important andthat you have it on paper to go
back to, so that you don't needto think about it over and over

(11:10):
and over throughout the day andnight.
An added step to this, if youwant, once you get those
thoughts out of your head, youcan read them back and look at
them from a differentperspective.
You can ask yourself questionslike,"Are my thoughts 100
percent true?" Or,"Is thereanother way to think about

(11:32):
this?" Or,"Is my thinking aboutthis helping me or anybody
else?" In challenging theseunhelpful thinking patterns, You
may be able to get them to stopcompletely.

#10 (11:46):
Control what you can control.
Ask yourself, is there anythingthat you can do to help that
feels meaningful, and if so,consider doing it.
If not, try to let go of, or atleast limit your time thinking
about things that are outside ofyour control.

And finally,#11 (12:08):
Do what you can to keep your routines and life
in general in order.
When lots of things are out ofyour control, don't allow
yourself to lose control of thethings you actually can control.
Take care of yourself, keep yoursurroundings clean and in order,
and connect with people who makeyou feel good.

(12:31):
So as I say in all my episodes,I don't want you to just listen.
I want you to take some actionso that you feel better.
I also want you to share thisepisode with anyone you know who
may benefit from one or more ofthe strategies that I shared.
All of the suggestions andstrategies I provided are in the
show notes, so you can go backand reference them and as a

(12:52):
quick review, consider whatwould help you.
Do you need to turn offnotifications?
Do you need to limit when youcheck the news and social media
by setting a timer, making appsharder to access, having no
phone zones, or by limiting theoverall time you allow yourself
to check news and social mediaeach day?

(13:12):
Do you need to mute or unfollowcertain accounts or individuals?
Do you need to intentionallymake sure you're consuming
positive information?
Do you need to set boundarieswith others about how much
you'll talk about thingshappening in the world?
Or do you need to refrain fromtalking about certain topics
completely?
Do you need to seek out morepositive support?

(13:36):
Do you need to practice betterself care and do the things that
nurture you?
Do you need to dump yourthoughts out of your head
through journaling?
And finally, do you need tospend more time focusing on the
things you can control versusthe things that are outside of
your control?
I hope you do what you can tohelp yourself feel better during

(13:57):
these challenging and uncertaintimes.
And if you want daily support tohelp you manage your mind and
your anxiety or otherchallenging emotions, go ahead
and follow me on Instagram.
You can search by the hashtagKarenVincentSolutions or Best
Boss Lady Life.
Until next time, take care andbe well.

(14:22):
That's a wrap.
You should be proud of yourselffor investing time in you, which
is so critical for success andfor overall life fulfillment.
I look forward to having youjoin me for my next episode.
And in the meantime, go clickthat subscribe button so you'll
know when it's released, and youcan also follow me on Instagram
at Best Boss Lady Life that's atBest Boss Lady Life on

(14:46):
Instagram.
Also, remember that whatever itis that you're working on,
you've got this and I'm herecheering you on.