3 Tips to ‘Letting Go’ When You’re Anxious

If you’ve ever been anxious, you’re probably familiar with the idea of “letting go”. Some pretty sound advice and sounds fairly simple… if you’re not the person experiencing anxiety!

For anyone who hasn’t experienced an anxiety attack before, it basically feels like you’re stuck and cannot move on from thoughts and feelings about things that, most of the time, aren’t even happening or real.

We also get fixated in a “bargaining” state where we tell ourselves stories like:

• “If I do this, THEN that will happen.”
• “If I can understand why that happened, THEN I’ll be able to get over it.”

We feel this way because the event or person we are obsessing over is something we are deeply connected to. And we have a fear, whether we’re aware of it or not, that by letting go we would have to move on and forget about this thing or person.

But, letting go is not about disconnecting, it’s about accepting. Allowing ourselves to trust that we are being guided and carried to something better for our highest good and the highest good of those around us.

Here are a few tips to try next time you’re feeling “stuck” and help you put a stop to those crazy stories you’re telling yourself:

1. Be Present

When we shift our perspective and pour our energy into the present, we can begin to see that events/people will change certain aspects of our life, but they won’t alone be responsible for your ultimate happiness.

Being in the present also allows us to let go of any pictures in your head about what your life “should be” like. We get so fixated on the things we lack in our life rather than what we have – on wishful thinking rather than reality.

Practising mindfulness by simply counting your breaths will help you refocus and bring you back to the here and now.

2. Distract Yourself

To help deal with the situation, remind yourself that you cannot control situations or people, but you can control how you think, feel or react. Just to prove this to yourself, make a list of all the things you can do to distract yourself. Make sure they’re things that will make you smile.

It might be: 

• Watching a (funny) movie
• Reading some trashy magazines
• Doing breathing exercises (YouTube has some great ones. And, if you get distracted by cat videos, that’s fine too!)
• Dancing in your living room
• Painting your nails
• Screaming into a pillow
• Going for a walk – and find somewhere pretty like the beach or a walking trail
• Creating a vision board. This will help you to focus on positive aspects of your future, rather than everything you don’t have right now.

3. Work on the Why

The biggest challenge is to actually make changes so that you are dealing with your anxiety and working towards letting go. Despite what we tell ourselves, we have learned to work ourselves into this state. And, you’ve most likely been doing it for years.

But, if it is no longer serving you (and you will know when it’s not), you will be pushed and guided to make a change. The fact that you’re even reading this is a little sign!

Now is the time to do some soulful work on yourself and tap into the why – why are you so attached to events that occur in your life? Why is it hard for you to let go of certain people?

The key is to finding something that resonates with you and helps you to heal. Reiki and Crystal Healing is a modality that works on unblocking and getting rid of anything that no longer serves you. If you’d like to know more about how it can help you, get in touch.

In love and light,
Loretta xo