Switching Energy Focus to Help Anxiety

About a month ago I was starting to feel my anxiety creeping back up and generally feeling pretty meh. I’d noticed over the weeks and months prior social media had become an escape when I was bored. I’d mindlessly scroll for 5-10 minutes at a time and I’d find myself feeling unsatisfied and fed up.

At about the same time I decided to start learning French using Duolingo. I never got the chance to learn French at school and now living in Canada I wanted to learn Canada’s second language, French.

I started taking lessons and immediately noticed I would get an endorphin rush from completing lessons. I decided shortly after to remove both Facebook and Instagram apps and instead turn my attention to Duolingo lessons when I was bored.

For the last month I have consistently taken lessons and noticed 2 big changes. Firstly, my French is getting better and more comprehensive. Second, my energy and happiness have increased.

Since deleting both social media apps off my phone I have logged on to my accounts once and haven’t missed the daily interaction with them at all.

I would encourage anyone who is feeling a lack of energy and excitement to try making small changes like I have and see if it has the same effects for them because it really can make a big difference in overall mood.

If you’re stuck for ideas on small changes you can make, please get in touch.

Connect with me

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Email: philiphickscoaching@outlook.com

When to know it’s time to switch anxiety medication

Before even kicking off this article I must start with a disclaimer, all changes in medication must be verified and approved by a doctor, this is not something you want to do on your own as you can end up causing more harm than good to yourself if you are not careful.

As anyone who has ever been prescribed anxiety medication will tell you, all of them have side effects that can list from a few things to the length of your arm. With each one it can be a bit of an experiment to find the right dosage or even to see if it is going to work for you.

In December 2020, after 9 months of covid restrictions and isolation like I’ve never known before, I started taking anxiety medication. At the time it certainly was helpful and better than the side effects of anxiety. It allowed me to sleep and get through each day without feeling like I was trudging through molasses.

In April 2021, shortly after getting married, I did what you really should never do without consulting a doctor first, I stopped taking my medication because I felt great and didn’t notice much of a difference on it to when I was off of it. After a couple of months and an especially stressful June my anxiety seemed to be back in full force.

I started back on the original medication I was on (after talking to the doctor) but this time it definitely was not as effective and I still kept getting heart flutters, which is a very physical symptom I get with my anxiety. After a couple of weeks I spoke to my doctor who said to give it another couple of weeks and see if the symptoms subsided because sometime when you stop a medication and then restart it you can end up having more side effects during the adjustment period.

Well, unfortunately this time the side effects did not subside and if anything my symptoms were getting worse including another trip to the ER with major overheating and palpitations. After the hospital visit and getting the all clear on my heart and my bloodwork the ER said to follow up with my doctor and possibly explore a different anxiety medication.

2 weeks ago after consulting my doctor I stopped my old medication and made a switch to something new. The difference was felt almost immediately and I’ve felt like I have my energy back.

The biggest test of when to change anxiety medication is what is feeling worse, the side effects of the medication or the fear you experience with anxiety? Changes need to be made under medical supervision and often a decent length of time to allow for your body to adjust.

Also note, dietary and weight changes can also cause different reactions to medication. That’s two of the main things that the doctor believes caused my adverse reaction to the medication I had taken before; my diet is significantly cleaner and my weight is down 15lb from when I first took it. Both can radically change body chemistry and therefore side effects.

If you are experiencing anxiety and are concerned talk about it with your doctor and a mental health professional. It’s ok to need some help and you can have all the knowledge in the world and be using numerous coping strategies and still need some medication to help. Trust me, I’ve been there and I use a list of different coping strategies but sometimes my body freaks out because I’m human just like you.

If you ever have any questions about anxiety don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll share openly about my own experiences and offer support where I can.

Connect with me

Website: https://philiphickscoaching.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pshicks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philip.s.hicks

Email: philiphickscoaching@outlook.com

Why are we always trying to fill the glass rather than empty and refresh?

We always talk about glasses being half full or half empty and how that’s a reflection of positivity vs negativity. What if you changed the contents of the glass from being something positive like optimism or attitude, to tiredness or pain? What if rather than focusing on filling the glass you focused on how to empty it?

I sometimes feel that especially as a generally positive person I feel compelled to focus on filling up positive parts of my life but it can also feel extremely exhausting and like in order to do that I need to pause and take a break. By switching my focus to emptying a glass with something in I don’t want like tiredness it keeps me still in action but without feeling like I am lacking or playing catch-up.

For me right now I feel like my glass is 7/10 full of tiredness. A lot has been happening and I feel drained but rather than bleakly looking at my energy glass and feeling very lacking I’m choosing to look at my tiredness glass which is very full instead. I actually want my tiredness glass to be empty and emptying it is far more exciting than trying to find ‘energizing’ things to fill the energy cup.

Psychologically emptying the tiredness cup should mean my energy goes up but it feels a whole lot less pressured just to focus on things that help reduce my tiredness instead.

This simple switch in mindset last night when talking to my coach meant I went to bed an hour earlier just because I could and I felt excited to do something to help empty the tiredness cup. I didn’t feel pressured that I had to have a perfect sleep in order to feel energized, I just wanted some extra sleep to hopefully feel a little less tired tomorrow.

Today I feel 5/10 tired. My energy is still low but I feel less exhausted. If I had put my focus on my energy needing to improve I would have been disappointed that it hadn’t but by focusing on reducing my tiredness I am happy because that has gone down. Try it for yourself, try shifting your focus to reduce what you want less of without focusing on the opposite needing to be fuller at the same time. Let me know how it goes.

Connect with me

Website: https://philiphickscoaching.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pshicks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philip.s.hicks

Instagram: @philip_hicks_coaching https://www.instagram.com/philip_hicks_coaching/?hl=en

Email: philiphickscoaching@outlook.com