Thread by @MJ_Leaver

One of the big strategies to manage anxiety, is a technique called 'reality testing'. It is a way to challenge rumination and catastrophic thinking. I can say, pocketfam, it is super hard to utilise this strategy in the face of a worldwide pandemic.

It is made especially difficult in Australia, because our Government (not surprisingly given their track record) aren't providing coherent messages that make logical sense.

Ban gatherings of 500 people outdoors, gatherings of 100 indoors, but force people to attend work, and school. Anyone who has ever caught a morning bus to a city knows that social distancing is an impossibility on public transport.

They could alleviate these transmission vectors if public transport was actually fully public and not semi-privatised, by putting on a lot more vehicles and reducing the numbers of passengers allowed, but they don't.

Public health messages are disingeously interwoven with goals that are more about the Government being unwilling to provide a social security safety net for non-frontline health and safety workers when they should not be attending work.

I'm not going to say non-essential workers, because that term is a myth. A restaurant requires a chef to cool the food, but without a kitchen hand, to run prep and wash dishes, a kitchen falls apart. All workers are essential, and business can't operate without them.

Anyway, if you're feeling anxious, and scared, and you can't seem to calm yourself, try to be kind to you. This is, for our lifetimes, an unprecedented situation. I'd recommend if you're finding it too much - to oractice one of my favourite skills. Avoidance.

Avoidance, in the long term, can be an extremely maladaptive coping strategy. But in a situation where you are powerless to change things, distraction can be a life-saver. Start to ruminate? Engage in an enjoyable activity, distract with TV, games, books, tiny humans, memes, etc.

Practice mindfulness, and grounding when you start to spiral. What are three things you can hear? 3 things you can see, 3 things you can feel (my shirt on my chest, the concrete beneath my feet - you can bet I'm barefoot more than ever- , the wind on my cheek).

Think about your feelings. What are you feeling, where are you feeling it in your body?

I am afraid, my throat is tight, and my stomach feels unsettled, and my jaw aches from clenching my teeth together.

Focus on a spot in the distance (or close your eyes if you're comfortable doing that). Take a slow, deep breath through your nose, hold it for a moment, then exhale slowly through your mouth. Repeat this a few times (I usually go at least five).

Open your mouth wide, stretching your jaw, and massage along the outer edge of your jaw, along the edge of your cheek near your hairline, all the way to your temple, and back down, and repeat on the other side.

We hold our anxiety (along with a lot of other things) inside of our body, but you can help to relieve those symptoms. If you lack finger mobility or strength, you can use the heel of your palm (or if you have someone you trust, you can ask them to do it for you).

Move your body. If getting out of bed seems too hard, try sitting up in bed first. If going outside seems like its too difficult (or is too difficult if you're not able bodied), open a curtain, let some sunshine and fresh air in. If possible, change the room you're in.

Understand now, more than at any other time, you are not the only person who is feeling like this. If you can be mindful of your emotions, describe them "I notice I'm feeling scared."
Work to validate your emotions
"It is ok that I am afraid, things are scary right now"

You can't force anxiety away, but you can try to alleviate the symptoms and the crushing pressure it is putting on you.
Try, your very best to be kind to you. I know that's tough pocketfam, but give it a go.
And reach out to your peers and your friends, and family and talk.

Or Tweets, if none of those people are safe, if they are more likely to invalidate you because of their unwillingness to acknowledge their own fear around everything happening.
The truth is, everyone is afraid right now, but how they manage that fear, amd how it manifests changes

Try to be kind, to others, too (the usual caveat of excluding of white supremacists stands), fear can push people to strange places. Work to keep yourself, and those around you safe, not only from the physical social distancing, but from the essential technological togetherness.

As always, if you're feeling distress beyond your capacity to manage, please refer to my pinned tweet for relevant helpline numbers, further down in that thread there's also some coping strategies.

Stay safe, you are loved, pocketfam, and you do matter.