How journaling can help you realize the connection between your anxiety & boundaries.
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive;
Maya Angelou
and to do so with some passion, some compassion,
some humor, and some style.
My Morning Ritual
Each day, as part of my morning ritual, I sit down with my favorite pen and journal and take a reading of my emotional state. If I have a telltale carsick feeling in my stomach, I know that anxiety has scooched up to me like an unwelcome visitor who doesn’t honor personal space.
Exhaling down my neck with its weird, battery-acid breath.
Urging me to “get up and get going NOW!”
“Forget the morning rituals, you’ve gotta move, soldier!”
“You don’t have time for a walk, a peaceful meditation, or a leisurely exploration of a new poet. Getting into gear is the only thing that is going to save you.”
“RUNNNNNNNN!”
The Oxford Languages dictionary defines anxiety as “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.”
On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest amount), how much anxiety are you experiencing right now?
Did your number surprise you? Why or why not? Take a mental note of your answers, or jot them down in your journal.
Anxiety is a Big Fat Liar
It plucks us right out of our agency, autonomy, and creativity—out of the buoyancy of flourishing—and plops us unceremoniously into retraction, living small, and a desperate clinging to survival mode.
Anxiety is a master of making us feel a jumble of panicky emotions combined with an accusatory vibe that somehow we’ve done something wrong.
That we are wrong.
We do not have to accept painful mind chatter as how things are for us, or that we have to play this unlucky hand we’ve been dealt.
We can decide in this moment—in any moment— to put ourselves back at the helm of our own lives.
A Fun, Revealing Exercise
Prompts for Journaling through Anxiety
1. Keep a pencil and notebook handy over the next couple of days.
2. If you experience a triggering event that takes you right into your anxiety, take a moment and pause.
3. Take out your pencil and notebook and write down the details of what you are feeling and why.
4. Look for how to transmute a scarcity, survival mindset to one of abundance and thriving. Write down the following: In this moment, I can decide how to experience this however I want. I choose an empowered stance. What would that look like right now? Write for a few minutes without censoring yourself.
5. Look for the guidance. Is there a helpful lesson tucked inside of the thing that happened or what I fear will happen? Can you find a way to reframe what happened or what you fear as a gift? Write it all down.
6. Ask yourself: Is there a relationship between my anxiety and my boundaries (or lack thereof)? Freewrite for a few minutes and capture whatever comes up for you.
BONUS: Bring these notes with you to the masterclass on August 27th (see below).
New Masterclass Incoming! Save the Date!
Please save this date: Tuesday, August 27th from 9 am – 1 pm Eastern. For nine months, I have been researching and crafting a curriculum on how to master the art of setting boundaries. I cannot wait to teach this life-changing content! I’ll have more details soon, but for now, please hold the date.
We have mastered survival mode. Now it’s time to LIVE.
