Do you ever feel like you’re trapped in a the web of your own negative anxious thoughts? Anxiety effects the whole body but its most apparent in our thoughts. We can get control of our thoughts with Prayer Breathing, keeping a Gratitude Journal, taking Time Outs Alone and spending Time In Together. The next Way to Deal with Anxiety in Motherhood is to:

Talk it Out

If there’s one thing most women love doing, it’s talking about how we feel. I suppose I really can’t speak for all women, but I find it incredibly helpful to process my thoughts by talking them over with someone else. As I talk, the words spill out, and I can almost feel the tangled mess of knots in my brain unwinding. Usually, once I’ve said what I need to say out loud, I don’t feel those same negative thoughts I just spewed out. My mind is cleansed and ready to stock up on positive thoughts again. Talk your feelings out of your brain by speaking them with words. Look those words in the eye and then let them go.

• Pour your thoughts out with words in a journal. Write down a list of everything making you feel anxious. It’s amazing how helpful it is to do this. Often times, once I pinpoint the source of my anxiety, I don’t feel as anxious about it because it there is now a reason for my craziness that I can find ways to deal with. Even if I can’t really do anything about it, at least I know now why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling and sometimes that’s enough.

• When you’d like a more human response than your journal can offer, make time to share your anxieties and thoughts with your husband, a close friend, or even with an amicable and patient priest/spiritual director. While you might not be able to see clearly enough through the haze of you anxiety, another person can take a look at it from the outside and guide you out of the fog to clearer skies.

• Talk it Out with a trained professional. Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Licensed Mental Health Counselors became what they are to listen to you and help you. Journaling your thoughts out by yourself and talking them over with a friend are great but if you need more than just a good listener, it’s worth paying to talk it out with a professional who can offer their medical and professional ear and provide concrete tips to deal with chronic anxiety.

Speaking of twisted knots, have you seen this painting of “Mary, Undoer of Knots”?

Look at her face, brow furrowed and deeply focused on the task at hand.

That’s her concentrating hard on helping you undo those knots of anxiety and frustration in your life. Talk to her. Give her your “knots”. Let her help you. She is your Mother after all.

Who do you go to when you need to Talk it Out?

Next, I’ll share how Taking Care of Your Body is a very important way to Deal with Anxiety in Motherhood.

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