Our tools and tips come directly from our podcast episodes. To fully understand the context of our tools & tips, please listen to each podcast episode (57. A New You: E20 – Real Talk About Isolation (Grief Recovery), 59. A New You: E22 – Real Talk About Isolation II (Mindfulness), 61. A New You: E24 – Dealing With Isolation (Tools & Tips)). Lastly, we recommend picking one or two items to start focusing on. Jot down how you want to put these things into practice as well as your progression in them. When you are proactive in taking small steps, before you know it, you would have walked a mile, or two, or three.
1. I asked the question how do we deal with anxiety, anger, and depression? Bev, a professional counselor responded that these emotions are given to us by God for us to turn to Him for the answers? Our first tip is to go to God when you are bombarded by crazy emotions. Spend time talking them through with Him. He is not timid in answering questions. He also loves being sought after. When we respond in this manner, we allow ourselves to draw His conclusions versus our own.
2. Discover your own mantra which helps you to calm down and breathe. For Bev, hers was to stop, drop, & pray. Yours maybe stop, breathe, and pray. Or you may pick your favorite scripture, or your favorite song. Determine what works best for you to pause. Basically, just exhale so that your emotions are not winning.
3. Share your experiences and connect with other people. I surely liked how Bev cleaned up the misery loves company statement. Find support groups that help you to know that you are normal.
4. Shift your thoughts from panic to gratitude. Think about things with thanksgiving. Bev did an assignment where she wrote 1000 things that she was grateful for. Get yourself a journal. Write down and look for those good things.
5. Remember that you cannot control all things. Write down things that you cannot control and then pray through them. When you do pray in this manner, you place the responsibility back on God. He knows and He cares. This tip does require practice. So, keep at it!
6. Break your replay thoughts. This topic also came up during Kisha’s Simone’s interview of me. She asked, “how do we stop replaying events?” At that time, I expressed journaling and talking through things with God. Bev added to this understanding. She suggested that we focus on gratitude in prayer and move towards a solution. A common theme, praying. But this also reminds me of the scripture about faith and deeds. Faith, prayer in God; deeds, move towards a solution.
7. Anger is the secondary emotion. Spend time discovering what the root cause is. It may be a loss of control, fear, or feeling hopeless.
8. Practice mindfulness. Do not judge your feelings or emotions as right or wrong. Rather take a deep breath. Then identify behaviors that foster peace (praying, practicing gratitude, and moving).
9. Focus yourself on healthy self-care by using the six Fs. These items are faith, fellowship, fitness, food (healthy food), fun, and family.
10. You cannot avoid grief; you have to work through it. How do we do it? Apply and re-apply all of the previous tips.