This practice is taken directly from my writing on how to approach your days when you’re feeling like you are spinning completely out of control and don’t know how to start to turn things around. I’ve shared it with people who are in an anxiety spiral, and it’s a good way to start to shift the momentum. Here’s what it is:

1. Walk around at a snail’s pace ALL day, no matter what you are doing, for however long it takes – this means you walk very slowly, you talk slowly and quietly, you even laugh softly.
2. Ditch anything that you absolutely do not have to do – especially anything that will create even the slightest amount of stress in your system.
3. Know that you are in recovery and you MUST do nothing but be exceedingly gentle with yourself right now.
4. If anyone tries to pick a fight or ramp up a conversation in any way, either walk away or say calmly, “I am not allowed to have any tension in my life right now. Maybe we can do this in a few days or find a different way to do it.”
5. Do not watch TV, do not read the paper or magazines or books that are not 100% safe, and do not listen to music unless you KNOW it is a type of music that will not create any adrenalyn in your system – this all means anything that creates tension/stress or excitement; your body experiences these in the exact same way.
6. If that little voice in your head won’t stop, find a different voice to listen to, even if that means for the entire day and as you are going to sleep.
7. Retreat entirely into your shell, find a quiet spot with a minimum of stimuli and rest.
8. If you feel like you can’t be alone, don’t be alone. Call a friend, a family member, a vague acquantance, call anyone and make them do something with you, even if it’s just sitting on their couch rather than your own and listening to THEIR words besides the whackanoodle conversation going on in your own head. Or just be with them so you feel safe, and then rest.

And that, my friend, is it for a little while. You will know when you are out of the woods and it’s okay to speed things up a little bit. But this is what you’re doing right now. You will feel better. Your nervous system needs a little bit of gentle recovery time, and it is well worth giving yourself this time to breath into this sort of rest.

If you’d like to, you can read about my experience with anxiety here and a more in depth writing about how I began to ditch the place of feeling like I was “in crisis” here.

(originally written in 2018)