Coping: Plan of Action
Hello!
I want to start off by saying that I'm not doing so well anxiety wise at the moment. Perhaps it's something to do with having 2 assignments due at the same time on Monday, one of which is for a politics course and I absolutely hate it but it's got to be done. It could also be a reaction to the prospect of having a lot more free time than usual over the next few weeks. I'm not going to lie, I'm absolutely dreading it. Or there might be no particular cause. Either way, I think I need to admit that things are difficult right now so my posts may be focusing in on that for a bit.
For the past couple of days I've been staying at Joe's house. Normally this would be fine but this time I spent a lot of time alone. Joe works so he'd leave early in the morning giving me peace and quiet to get on with uni work until he got home in the afternoon. I would get up by myself and immediately feel uneasy with the quiet and solitude in a different place to normal. However, I didn't let anxiety beat me, I used a coping mechanism that I call 'Plan of Action'. It's very easy and can help anyone in stressful situations, not just anxiety sufferers.
As the title suggests, it's all about creating a plan of tasks you need to do. It can be as mundane, and simple as you like. For example, my plan of action for this morning was: get up, toilet, breakfast, look at train times, shower, makeup, get dressed, pack. I stopped there so that it felt manageable. The idea was that once I'd completed this chunk of my day, I could think about the next chunk. This helps reduce anxiety because it gives me a purpose. I feel very anxious when I feel unanchored, or have no structure so by creating a Plan of Action, I give myself a structure.
Now, you are allowed to alter your Plan of Action whilst you're completing it. This can be difficult as you feel like you're somehow doing something wrong by breaking it but giving yourself permission to do things is a really important part of coping with anxiety. Originally today, I was going to have a shower. You guys know that I have to treat my dry skin with Oilatum baths from time to time and I hadn't really calmed down after booking train tickets back from Joe's house so I decided to have a bath instead. I knew I needed to wash my hair too but Joe's bath has a nifty shower head feature so I could do both. I am proud of myself for having that bath actually because I knew that it would delay me from working for a bit but I concentrated on giving myself permission to have it, and I won! And I have the steamy selfie above to prove it! That picture makes me laugh because it looks like I have some mad filter on it but my phone was just steamed up from the hot water and I just took it in a second thinking I'd immediately delete it, but it's surprisingly artsy!
On the subject of altering your PoA, I want to add that you can break things up into as many chunks as you need. For example, if you're feeling really anxious getting ready, you can break each individual task into chunks. For example a shower: turn on, check temperature, step in, shampoo, exfoliator, conditioner, water off, dry yourself. This might sound ridiculous but this method has allowed me to do everything I need to when even the smallest tasks have felt overwhelming in the past. Today, I decided to separate my dressing and makeup into smaller chunks. I was still feeling a bit anxious after my bath so I was wondering what I should do. I have always enjoyed having fun with makeup so I decided that I would choose an outfit and do my makeup around that to give myself something fun to concentrate on.
I opted for a flamingo shirt and decided that I would create a flamingo eye look to match and ended up with...
It was bright, fun, and a little bit OTT but who cares? It made me feel good about myself so I was finally calm enough to phone the taxi company to take me to the train station, and then I was able to settle to some work.
Life can feel overwhelming at times but I swear by this little coping mechanism so I hope it helped someone else.
You've got this!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
