How bat shit crazy is all this? I mean… come on. I don’t know about you but I seem to flip flop between this kid…
and this guy…
and it’s all a bit much so I’m gonna keep this short, sweet and fucking brilliant.
The bit where I share something [shit] from my week
On Sunday, I had a panic attack. Ran down to the river, expected it to be quiet, it wasn’t, a switch flicked inside me: Panic at the disco.
It was thoroughly unpleasant, mainly because I then endured 48 hours of spontaneous tears 😅 That’s a lot of repressed stuff that needed to come out.
The bit where I tell you how I managed… the shit
Back in the day of rock bottom, panic attacks were pretty regular for me. In fact, I was having panic attacks before I knew what they were, way back when I thought anxiety was just a flutter of nerves that came when I hit reply on tinder.
How do I sound cool, smart, witty, interesting, interested and ever so slightly unavailable… in five words?
Soz, tangent. Anyway. Panic attacks…
Luckily, I’m wise now 😏 and was able to do that Blue Peter trick of “here’s one I made earlier”. I crashed my running app and slowly walked home working through this list…
It’s called “5,4,3,2,1” or “The five senses grounding technique”
5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you
4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch right now
3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear
2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell
1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste
This is real deal magic. It immediately took the edge off the panic and brought me back to the moment.
Did it fix everything? No. Did it restore a cooler calm? It really did 🙏
The bit where I explain how you can take it a step further
I volunteer for Shout, which is a crisis text line. When people first get in touch, well… they’re losing their shit. I pull this trick out all the time. I ask if they’re open to trying out a grounding technique to help them feel calm, they say yes (always) and I ask the first question by replacing “Acknowledge” with “Tell me”, they answer.
Q: Tell me five things you can see right now
A: Cup of tea, clothes on the floor, blue sky outside…
You’re smart, you get it 🤓
It works in every form, by text, over the phone and yes - even by video call which we are all total pros at now.
Occasionally, I’ll pull out a “Nice, I love the sound of birds - Lovely, fresh laundry is my favourite smell - Awesome, nothing feels better than your duvet” when they give me something to work with… which they always do.
Wanna get a little more creative? Swap that final question for “One good thing about yourself” ask them to humour you and let them know it’s your favourite question. It’s surprising what lovely responses you will get.
Okay, folks. Spread this trick far and wide cause there’s a lot of panic out there and God knows we could do with a bit more calm.
Until next week,
Amber
Every day I’m balancing
Interested in a 1:1?
Once upon a time, I said I’d only go back to one to one coaching if it was in a luxury villa in Ibiza, well… I got too smug, didn’t I? We had to cancel our retreat.
With all this crap going on I’ve decided to break my “corporate only” rules and take on some 1:1 coaching clients. The whole world is anxious right now and if you’re looking for someone to help take the edge off, hit reply.
Podcast of the week
Elizabeth Day’s latest How to fail episode with Mo Gawdat is just… perfect. Get it in your ears. You’ll find it wherever you listen to podcasts, the Spotify link is below.
I listen on apple, but I don’t wanna discriminate against those Android folks that are lurking in my mailing list… I see you.
Ps…
To those of you who send me lovely messages or social shout outs after these, thanks for the thanks. It really does make my Friday :-)
As always, here’s the Balpro logo #branding