Anxiety? Stress? Just Set the Snow Globe Down
by Brian Curtis, Ph.D.
The next time you're stressed out, muscles tense, the hamster wheel of worry is spinning ... just stop.
You can try doing this now.
Just stop multitasking. Stop planning. You're in the future. Even while reading this sentence. You're lost in thought.
Maybe you're depressed. Sad. If so, stop ruminating. You're in the past.
Give yourself permission to be here. In this moment.
Stop doing.
The expression I've found myself using a lot in my daily life to manage my own anxiety and with the people I work with clinically:
"Let the snow globe settle."
With all of your motion, it's a blizzard out there. It's a blizzard IN here (your mind).
Just stop. Inhale normally. Then exhale, just a little bit longer than the inhale. You might close your eyes.
Stop doing.
The snow continues to settle. What once was a blizzard of white is now a gradually appearing scene. You can now see a snowman. The trees. Children smiling and enjoying themselves. The sky.
The chaos becomes calm.
The next time you're stressed out, muscles tense, the hamster wheel of worry is spinning .... just stop.
Let the snow globe settle.
