My Brain's Not Broken

After the events of the past few months, I feel comfortable saying it’s a nervous time right now – to say the least. And rather than tell you why that is, pretending I’m any sort of medical expert (I’ll just point you to the CDC), I want to focus on the anxiety that many of us feel right now surrounding the situation.

Regardless of whether or not you have anxiety or another mental health disorder, it’s understandable to feel anxious right now. Depending on how well-informed your government is about the situation in your country (hello international readers!), you might have more reason than someone else to feel nervous. But how nervous, how anxious is the appropriate amount to feel?

As with other types of anxiety, how we react to a situation doesn’t always have to do with the situation itself. Some situations bring about anxiety that is reasonable given the circumstances, and it’s important to find the right level or amount of anxiety to feel; this is also known as managing anxiety.

By managing anxiety, you’re acknowledging that it’s okay to feel how you’re feeling right now, which is very important. Often times people will try to suppress that feeling entirely, leading to a bigger blow up once it all comes to the surface. But suppressing this feeling when it’s reasonable to feel anxious will only make it more difficult to deal with the situation.

Though it might not feel like it’s the most helpful thing, following the recommendations of professionals can alleviate some of the feelings we have. It might not fix things entirely, but exercising proper precaution and preparation is something we can all do. Even if it doesn’t make you feel that much better, it shouldn’t make you feel worse.

Of course, this is also a real-world problem that will have real-world consequences, and so managing our anxiety over the situation isn’t the only thing we should be thinking about. But hopefully, it’s just another tool in the belt as we continue trying to make our way through the world despite all the struggles and challenges that are presented to us.

You can also check back in on Thursday for some more tips and tricks for how best to manage our anxiety. Managing our anxiety is handy in this situation, but plenty of other things are sure to happen throughout our lives where having a reasonable response could make all the difference.