Today, I’m getting vulnerable. I think it’s so important to talk about mental health along with some strategies to help understand and cope with it. I know many of us are experiencing new or worsened challenges after the past year and a half. I hope this can help you as it helped me, but I’m not a professional, so take these thoughts with a grain of salt.

COVID-19 obliterated my mental health. Sure, I had a lot of underlying stuff going on before the pandemic, but I’ve always just thrown myself into work, school, and social gatherings. I distracted myself by becoming a hustling workaholic. When the world stopped and all of my normal distraction methods were pulled out from under me there wasn’t much left behind besides anxiety, uncertainty, and loneliness. At this point, I’m doing much better for many different reasons, but a huge factor was adopting guided meditations whenever I felt anxious or overwhelmed. 

Specifically, I started using the app Headspace. I was drawn to Headspace in particular because there are so many generic guided meditations, as well as ones for very specific situations. The meditations are also designed as courses with beginners in mind, each time you move forward in a course, the techniques get more elaborate. As a beginner, I loved this format. 

When I get anxious, my mind tends to spin out, my heart races, I can feel warm or get chills, and I can even feel shaky or dizzy. These feelings used to be rare for me, but they had become more frequent during the lockdown. My favorite meditation in the Headspace app is designed specifically for anxiety, and it’s my go-to way to calm down when I feel this way. You don’t have to use Headspace though, guided meditations can be found all over YouTube!

If you’ve never tried these kinds of guided meditations before I’m sure you're wondering how they help with anxiety when your mind is spinning out. Believe me, I was skeptical too. The goal of these meditations is not to silence racing thoughts, but rather to change how we respond to thoughts that come up. 

Most of these courses start with a focus on breathing or spatial awareness. This helps you get centered in your body. As thoughts come up, the guide instructs you to acknowledge that those thoughts are there and to let them pass. Basically, we’re saying “Hi, I see you, I hear you, but I’m focusing on breathing right now, peace out buddy.” At least that’s how I envision it. 

So am I actually dealing with any of my anxieties? Nope. Most of the time they’re not rational and the point of these exercises is not to grapple with them (at least not as a beginner). The goal is to minimize the physiological response my body has, as well as to stop thoughts from spinning out of control. Instead of spiraling, they are simply recognized and allowed to pass by. 

If any of the things I’ve talked about are relatable to you I definitely recommend giving it a try. On days where I spend 10-15 minutes mediating my thoughts are less chaotic and I’m able to focus more clearly. My best days are when I practice both meditation and gratitude. The meditation reduces many of the negative thoughts, while the gratitude emphasizes all of the good happenings around me. I can’t promise it will work for everyone, but I can say that it’s made a huge difference in my own life. Let me know if you give it a try!