Tag Archive for: stress relief

Do You Suffer from Driving Anxiety?

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driving-anxiety

Driving anxiety is the most common form of anxiety that I treat in my hypnotherapy practice.  This can range in severity from a hesitation to drive, where anxiety is always present, all the way up to a total refusal to drive at all, in which case it becomes driving phobia. A phobia is a fear that is paralyzing but irrational. Driving phobia is one of the most common phobias.

Driving phobia is a form of agoraphobia, literally defined as is the fear of open spaces. But it’s not the fear of open spaces that scares people, it fear of loss of control. People with a driving phobia or driving anxiety fear being trapped in a traffic jam and unable to escape if they have a panic attack. They also fear passing out, losing control of the vehicle, throwing up or getting into an accident. For many people, driving next to big trucks, merging onto the freeway or driving in the fast lane can be very nerve racking.

Symptoms of driving anxiety

Symptoms of driving anxiety are similar to most other forms of anxiety: heart palpitations, perspiring and sweaty palms, disorientation, confusion, dizziness, dry mouth and shortness of breath. This is the classic “fight or flight response”. Some times people feel that they are going to die or go crazy. This can be really scary and people will simply not drive to avoid these kind of intense feelings. It’s good to remember that  these are just feelings and even the most severe panic attacks don’t cause any long term ill effects.

Still,  driving anxiety can seriously impact a person’s  ability to function on a daily basis if they need to drive to work or drive for a living, especially here in So Cal where driving is necessary to get anywhere fast.

How does driving anxiety start?

Driving anxiety can start in many ways. Usually a person has experienced a car accident or “close call” and that memory is still causing the subconscious mind to be protective. Sometimes, this kind of anxiety can show up out of the blue.  If you are a person that is prone to anxiety or fear, then driving may be one place where this shows up.

In addition,having episodes of low blood sugar can create anxiety. If this happens while driving, then you might start associating driving with anxiety. Low blood sugar can be caused from not eating or after eating a meal high in simple carbs or sugar. This is especially true for those that have family histories of diabetes or hypoglycemia.

Driving anxiety can turn into a phobia though avoidance. In other words, of you have some fear of driving and you decide to stop altogether, it becomes a full blown phobia and the more you avoid it, the harder it is to get back in the saddle, so to speak.

The good news is, fear of driving is a learned behavior. If you have ever felt comfortable driving, then that is something you learned. If you are uncomfortable now, you can relearn how to be comfortable again. Here are some tips to help you get back on the road feeling safe and comfortable and confident. If you are currently not driving due to driving anxiety, I highly suggest you get help by contacting me  or another professional so I can help you.

Tips to help with driving anxiety.

  • The basics: avoid blood sugar imbalances. Avoid driving on an empty stomach.Pay attention to how you feel after eating certain foods, especially those high in sugar or simple carbs (bread, pastries, soft drinks). Drinking alcohol the night before can also trigger blood sugar imbalances. Also, if you are driving while sleep deprived, you are asking for trouble. Start by taking care of yourself.
  • Caffeine: is a known trigger for anxiety. Some of my clients have felt relief from driving anxiety just by cutting back on caffeinated beverages.
  • Consider car pooling. If you are engaged in conversation you are less liable to think anxious thoughts. You also have to drive half as much. Think this one over carefully, as some people are more distracted while conversing while driving.
  • Manage your stress. A common cause for anxiety is extended periods of overwhelming stress. Do what you can to lower your stress level: exercise, take more breaks, meditation, yoga, etc.
  • Affirmations.Hand write, in script, some positive affirmation about your ability to drive calm, comfortable and relaxed. For example “I’m calm, comfortable and relaxed while driving and enjoying listening to music (the radio, audio books, etc.)” Read them right before you go to bed and right after you wake up. Say them out loud and imagine yourself driving while feeling calm and relaxed. Don’t underestimate the power of this simple exercise.
  • What really stops most people is the anticipatory anxiety:“Oh my God, I need to drive tomorrow out to the west side. I just know this is going to cause me a lot of anxiety. I’m already feeling it!” Instead, try saying something like”If I feel anxious I know I can handle it.”
  • Desensitization. This is a therapeutic technique that can help you become more comfortable with what is fearful. It involves taking small steps to get comfortable with situations that trigger anxiety. For example, if you can’t even drive your car, then start by sitting in your car in the driveway or on the street with the engine on but not moving. Notice whatever anxiety comes up and just be with it. Do that for longer periods of time until you can sit in the car, engine running, without anxiety. When you reach that point, and it may take a few hours or a few days, then drive around the block. If you feel anxiety, just pull over until it goes away, then continue driving. For freeway driving, you might try getting on one on ramp, staying in the slow lane, and then getting of on the next off ramp.

The most important thing to realize is that even though driving anxiety does not feel good, it will not kill you. It is your reaction to the feeling of anxiety that determines how you manage it. Instead of fighting anxiety, just allow it to be. Notice it, and see if you can observe it with detachment. Take deep breaths and try to remain in the present moment. Realize you have a tendency to create anxiety with your thoughts so try focusing on something else, like the environment, music, or the cars in front of you.

If you are still driving even though you experience anxiety, these tips can be helpful and good luck. However, if your level of anxiety is very high, you will probably need some help. You don’t need to live with the anxiety; give me a call.

Ted A. Moreno

Click Here For a Free Guide to Relieve Anxiety

 

Scatpooy Epidemic

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NosferatuShadow

SCATPOOY seems to be present in quite a few people these days. Although not quite an epidemic, you want to make sure you don’t catch it.  The best thing to do is to immunize yourself now. However, if you notice any symptoms, you’ll want to deal with them immediately.

Symptoms may include paralysis, insomnia, and loose bowels, but will always include overwhelming  worry, fear and anxiety.

SCATPOOY (SCAring The Poop Out Of Yourself) won’t kill you, but if left untreated, it can cripple you by leaving you overwhelmed, fearful, and hiding out in the bathroom or stuck in bed.

I experienced this debilitating disease myself, shortly after I bought my house in the middle of the recession in 2009. My business was really slow. Like a parasite, a scary thought started to bore through my brain. It went like this: “I’m going to lose my house and I just bought it.” This thought grew in intensity and fear as I continued to feed the virus with negative scenarios, such as imagining me and my wife packing up our stuff and moving back into an apartment, feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

I found myself expecting something bad to happen. Because of the negative vibes I was sending out, my business phone stopped ringing almost completely, which made the situation worse. I was nervous as a snail crossing the highway.

One night I was lying in bed freaking out, thinking about all the past pickles I’d found myself in. It then occured to me that I had been in situations much more dire, and had managed to make it through.  I’d never been homeless, always had enough to eat, and always had people willing to help me out.  I realized that I had been creating frightening images that had not taken place. Yes, I had been infected with SCATPOOY.  I was scaring the crap out of myself.

I knew immediately where I had been infected, so I stopped watching and listening to the news about everybody losing their homes. It’s not that I didn’t care, I just didn’t need to hear all the sad stories. I needed to take action and make sure that that didn’t happen to me. That night, I swore an oath: “This is our house, and here we will stay.”

The truth was, I was not even close to losing my house. Yet, I was acting as if it was already happening. That night, I stopped focusing on what I didn’t want, and started to focus and think about what I did want.

It’s good to be concerned, and to plan for eventualities. It’s smart to see the writing on the wall and be prepared with a contingency plan. It’s another thing entirely to create fear and worry over something that doesn’t exist or that hasn’t happened yet. That’s called Scaring The Poop Out of Yourself, and it will not help you. If you feel that you have some symptoms of this malady, then you need to start now to cure yourself.

First of all, remove yourself from possible sources of infection: the negative news, negative people who get off on Scaring The Poop Out Of You, and information that only gives you the worse case scenario instead of what actions you can take.

Second, try to see reality clearly. SCATPOOY can cloud your vision. Try to see what’s happening now, instead of the disaster that you think will happen. Then deal with what is in front of you; it’s probably not as bad as the horror film in your head.

Next, change your language. In the cold fever of fear, what are you deliriously babbling about to yourself? Does it sound like “Oh my god, I just know that this is going to be terrible?” Take a chill pill, then stop and ask yourself: “How do I know that? Can I predict the future? I don’t know that it’s going to be terrible.” Even if it has been that way before, the past does not have to equal the future.

Be sure of the cure. Get clear about the outcome you want. Create it in your mind along with all the feelings that will come from having it. Start to shift your focus away from your symptoms and onto wellness. Use positive affirmations such as “I’m going to be OK.”

Write yourself a prescription. Determine what actions you can take now to prepare, remedy, or plan for the situation that’s worrying you. Realize that for every problem, there is a solution. It may not be the ideal solution, but try something. Doing nothing leaves you even more paralyzed.

Trust in your ability to overcome the infection of fear.  I can assure you of this: you have no idea how resilient you can be. Sometimes we need to be put to the test to force us to reach deep down inside for courage, resourcefullness and plain ole grit. Tell yourself, “I’m up for this challenge, it may not go my way but I won’t let it take me down.”

Lastly, immunize yourself. Vaccinate your brain with daily positive affirmations. Supplement with mind vitamins from those who have overcome major challenges and have left a record of their experiences. Have a support team of positive spin doctors give you daily doses of inspiration. Exercise your right to choose and control your thoughts and create your own reality.

SCATPOOY may be a chronic condition that you’ve been living with for some time, or it may be a new condition caused by the stress of something happening in your life that is out of your comfort zone. Which ever it is, don’t beat yourself up. Like they say, poop happens. Just come on out of the bathroom or out from under the covers and give me a call, I can help.

Next month we’ll discuss a condition many people suffer from that is the opposite of  SCATPOOY. It’s known as NCI-Burp. (Negative Crap Inside- Building Up and Ready to Pop) I hope you don’t have it…

If you liked this post, please leave a comment and/or share it with your social networks.  

Your companion on the journey to transformation,

TMan

Ted A. Moreno
Personal/Small Business Coach
Certified Hypnotherapist
www.TedMoreno.com

FEEL FREE TO — USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, WEB SITE OR BLOG. Just let me know that you are, and include the following with it:

Ted A. Moreno is a Certified Hypnotherapist and Success Performance Coach. Ted empowers his clients to transform their lives by helping them reach their goals of success, abundance, personal development, health and happiness. To learn more, visit www.TedMoreno.com/blog

 

Learn How to Control Your Thoughts with My Self Hypnosis for Success Class.

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The most powerful skill you will ever learn is the ability to control your thoughts.

What you think becomes your life. If you think worrisome, fearful thoughts, you will be worried and fearful. Think thoughts of gratitude and success, and you’ll feel grateful and successful.

Do you feel like you are controlled by negative thinking? It’s possible that you learned to think that way, from your parents, early environment, or you could have learned it as a way to cope with failure and disappointment. The good news is, Read more

Little Changes Here and There

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I’ve been diligently working on my blog site and adding cool new features such as share/save buttons under each post.

I’ve also added “Ted’s Most Excellent Links” as well as some new tabs on the main menu, including tabs for my website, TedMoreno.com, and my anxiety blog site, Overcome Anxiety with Hypnosis.

I’m especially excited to finally get my first product, my Peaceful Place Relaxation CD, online under the tab Hypnosis Audio CDs.

As always, I welcome any suggestions for products and/or content.

Happy Day!

Giving Yourself Permission to Just Hang Out and Relax.

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crows21

Friday I stayed home with a bad cold.  Cancelling the two appointments I had on Saturday was not an option.  I got through Saturday without sneezing on my cleints, and spent the rest of the day on the couch with a box of Kleenex.

Sunday I woke up at 6 am still feeling pretty lousy. Saturdays and Sundays I usually get up at 6, and write this blog in my home office. The voice in my head  was saying: “Get up right now, go into the office and start writing…wait, how about just a couple more minutes sleep? OK. Then I’ll get up and get to work…yeah, that’s it…”

I woke up at 8:30, feeling guilty and behind schedule. All of a sudden, something occured to me: “I’m under the weather, can’t I get a break??”

After all,  I was battling a cold. It seemed like it should be OK for me not to jump out of bed and start working on this particular Sunday. Then I decided something that totally changed how I felt: I wasn’t going to do a darn thing  that day except take it easy. And that’s what I did. I sat on the couch and watched TV, something I never do. I played with my kids. I felt like I was on vacation. No pressure, no work, I had nothing I had to get done. It felt freakin’ great. Here I thought I was the expert on how to relax, but I had to be reminded that day how incredibly important it is to just chill out.

Relaxation is as necessary as food and water. Without regular relaxation, stress builds up and creates dis-ease. Yet, it seems that in our culture, we feel the need to jam more and more into each day. The fact is, research shows that daily time for relaxation actually increases productivity.

The mind can only take in so much information or stimuli before it becomes overwhelmed. Many factors can contribute to overwhelm, including lack of sleep, physical discomfort or pain, emotional challenges, hunger, and especially stress and worry. When we become overwhelmed, we aren’t able to keep things in perspective anymore, and our tolerance and patience plummets. We actually enter  a trance state, and since we’re focused on what we don’t want, we create more of it through the power of suggestion, creating a vicious cycle.

If you stay stressed and overwhelmed long enough, this state can become a habit or the norm. Things begin to fall through the cracks, exhaustion kicks in, and if you don’t have the good sense to say “I need a vacation” then your body will force you to take one.

If you’re having trouble relaxing, here’s a few useful tips:

  • Schedule your relaxation time in as an appointment with yourself. Could be a whole day, a few hours, or a few minutes to listen to a relaxation or hypnosis CD. The key is make the choice to do it and do it regularly.
  • Take breaks. I know you’ve heard this before. Alex Mandossian suggests having a timer and work in 50 minute increments, then when 50 minutes is up, you absolutely have to get up and take a break, walk around, or have a snack or a meal.
  • Take a power nap. According to Wikipedia, “Scientific experiments  and anecdotal evidence suggest that an average power nap duration of around 15-30 minutes is most effective.”
  • Keep your perspective. Will your email inbox ever be empty? Will you ever really conquer all the weeds? Have you every been truly caught up? Will the work at your job ever be “done?” If the answer is no, then that is the reality. Work when you should,  relax when you should. I don’t know for sure, but I’ll bet that it’s true that nobody ever said on their deathbed, “I should’ve spent more time at the office.”
  • Learn to say no. Is it imperative that you attend every invitation you recieve?  Give your time whenever asked? Are you guilted into attending parties, weddings, work functions etc. even when you don’t want to? It’s your life, your precious and valuable time, and your choice, so choose wisely.
  • Take one day a week off. One day when you absolutely do not involve yourself in your work, job or career. One day to let your mind be free to focus on something else. Even God took a day off.
  • Loosen up and have some fun. The last time I spoke to God, She told me that we’re here to enjoy life. Who am I to disobey? What good is working hard and  having lots of stuff, if you can’t hang loose and enjoy it? Short answer: no good.
  • Listen to music. In my house, I’m the kitchen clean up guy. It’s a lot more tolerable if I’m listening to tunes. Even if you aren’t a big music lover, listening to relaxing music while driving can go a long way towards  easing the stress of a daily commmute.
  • Take a walk outside. It will get you out of your head, and that’s where your stress lives. A walk after dinner will do wonders for your attitude.
  • Then there’s the tried and true…yoga and meditation or some kind of mindfullness practice. Having been around for a couple of thousand years, we can assume that there’s something valuable in these practices.

Or you can make it really easy on yourself and just call me. Here’s what I’ll do for you. I’ll give you a half hour Power Relaxation Session  for $59, including a recording of the session. You come in, we say our howdy dos, you get in the happy chair, I do the hypno-relax magic, you walk out with a smile on your face and a recording waiting for you in your inbox. How easy is that? (South Pasadena location only, this offer expires September 30th.)

If you liked this post, please leave a comment and/or share it with your social networks.

TMan

 Ted A. Moreno
Personal/Small Business Coach
Certified Hypnotherapist
www.TedMoreno.com                                                                       
 (626) 826-0612
 
Photo by Skye Moorhead. www.skyemoorhead.com