Wearing a mask can be anxiety provoking! You might feel your heart race, breath get shallow, and have fearful thoughts. But despite your discomfort, it may be important to you to find a way to cope with the anxiety so that you can wear your mask to protect yourselves and others during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, I share 3 quick tips that might help. (If you just want to read a summary of the tips, scroll below the video!)
Step 1: Connect with compassion to others
When we’re experiencing anxiety, we can get hyper-focused on our own distress, which sometimes can serve to increase our anxiety. Basically, when we’re distressed, we often go looking for more evidence that we should feel unsafe. So shifting to something external, like compassion for others, can help interrupt this process and remind us that we are safe and practicing something courageous and kind by wearing a mask. I like imagining someone who really benefits from me wearing a mask, and remind myself that wearing a mask is an act of kindness to others. Try telling yourself, “I am willing to experience the discomfort of this anxiety in order to practice kindness towards those who are vulnerable.”
Step 2: Practice soothing rhythm breathing
One way to signal to our brain and body that we are actually safe is by lengthening and deepening our breath. Practice slowing down your breathing and finding a pace that feels good to you – inhaling for 4 seconds and exhaling for 4 seconds is a good place to start. While this action can support sending calming signals to ourselves, it’s important to view this as an act of support for ourselves, rather than aiming to achieve a particular state of calm. Constantly asking yourself, “Am I calm yet?” can just keep your tension high and distract you from focusing on doing what’s important to you.
Step 3: Connect with compassion to yourself
Ask yourself, “Is there anything that would be supportive of me?” Often we try to dismiss our anxiety, telling ourselves that we should just get over it. It can be helpful to do the opposite – fully acknowledge how uncomfortable and distressing this is for you. Once you acknowledge it, you can better answer the question of what would be supportive. For me, it was bringing a glass of ice water on my errands to counteract how hot the mask was making me – but I challenge you to get creative and think about what might be supportive for you!
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