How slowing down helped my anxiety
Rushing won't help you and will make it harder for you.
I was always a person who rushed through things, so I could get more stuff finished and save some time. Even showering and doing my skin care was a race to get it done! As an ambitious person who has the tendency to overdo everything and be a perfectionist, I only felt good when I did my entire to-do list on a day with 30 things on it.
Maybe you are familiar with this as well, always rushing through things. Eating your food, running errands, going for a walk, and so much more.
When I felt mentally exhausted, and maybe my hands were hurting from writing, I collapsed into bed, feeling beyond drained but happy I got everything done. Sometimes when I sat with my grandpa, I was already thinking about all the things I had to do, and I rushed through this.
The skincare and shower time, which is a self-care time, was a chore for me because I could spend that time doing more. So I rushed, getting it done just so I could fit more in the day. It doesn’t take a therapist to know that this raises your anxiety level when you are never unwinding or giving yourself the time.
Eventually, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise; I got a hit. My anxiety was skyrocketing, and I wasn’t feeling well since the physical symptoms weren’t too far away from that moment on. And I notice this is not working; it was never designed to.
So, I had to make a decision: continue like this or finally get it in my head that this here will only damage me more and more in the entire time I am doing it. It won’t get better; it will only get worse.
And I stopped.
Of course, this doesn’t come the second you say it will. They are active steps you need to take to do this, and I know myself really well. But I also took a look at my life and my habits to see what can change.
And I started small, with one question:
What do I know already that I can do but slowly?
The answer for me was easy: Skincare and showering.
Two things I always did but rushed through them like there was an award-winning competition happening in secret. Who gets things done faster? Who rushes more?
So, I took a step back. Unwinding in these moments. I was more intentional and took it for what it is: Me time. Just some time to relax and take it easy. I came to love doing my skincare and taking a warm shower. When I was alone, I had some music on and took a couple of deep breaths.
Instead of ‘taking a break’ to do something else, I really took a break. Unwinding a bit throughout the day really helped my nervous system a lot, just stopping for a moment and taking a deep breath or sitting in stillness to take everything in.
These were things I heard other people doing, but I always thought that it wasn’t working anyway. Like, how could just a few deep breaths help me? Yet, it did. When I stopped rushing everything I did to the next thing, it made me calmer. I noticed more around me, felt happier, and my anxiety calmed down.
I developed a moment of calmness when I felt overwhelmed or noticed I rushed again. As an experiment, you should take a week and look at how you are behaving. What do you rush through? And notice this. Sometimes we don’t even notice when we do this; it’s like a habit you fall into, and if you didn’t catch it, you are stuck with this.
It became so normal for me that when I took the time to slow down, it felt so incredibly weird for me. But just after a short time, I was able to feel a huge difference in my anxiety level and how I was also showing up in the task I was doing.
I can guarantee you that when you start being more intentional and not rushing all the time, you will see an improvement. For some, it will take longer, and for others, in a short time, they already see the difference.
If you notice rushing, take a deep breath and slow it down a bit. You will see that it will help with a lot of different things.
xx
Lena
