Tag: Home Distractions

Having anxiety means there will be triggers around you that cause you to feel intense worry that interferes with daily activities. These triggers may exist in your own home. By recognizing the triggers that are in your home, you will know if there is anything that you need to work on to improve your anxiety and be able to live in your house in peace.

Clocks

Clocks in your house can be an anxiety trigger since we are used to looking at clocks to remind us when something we planned is coming up or if we are running late. When someone with anxiety runs late, they do not see it as a simple accident but as a shameful act that they cannot forgive themselves for. Instead of having to stare at the clock until it is time for your appointments or engagements, you can put an alarm on your phone to remind you when to get ready to leave. Instead of putting on a blaring alarm sound that will do nothing but make your anxiety worse, make the alarm silent but put your phone on vibrate. You will not need to keep staring at the clocks in your house to remind you when it is time to leave the house. Just look at those clocks casually if you are wondering about the time.

Shower

Showering is supposed to feel relaxing and soothing. For someone with anxiety, however, it can be stressful as taking a shower leads to getting ready for something important whether it is getting clean for work, an interview, or meeting a group of people. They may be rushing their shower in fear that taking too long will keep them late, making them not be able to enjoy it. It is important to look forward to taking a shower. Not only are you cleansing yourself, but you are being showered with a stream of hot water flowing down your body. When your shower is over, you will be relieved of the stress and feel good about yourself. Wash your body and your hair with your favorite scent to feel good about yourself or try out a new scent.

Bills and Forms

You may have a whole table filled with forms and bills that need to be paid. It can make you feel financially overwhelming by all of the bills that are due. Instead of letting this pile get bigger and bigger, organize them. Prioritize these forms by what needs to be due by the end of the week and another pile that can wait until next week. This will help you feel less overwhelming and a better chance that the pile will get smaller in a short amount of time. By letting the bills pile up, you are only letting your anxiety get worse.

Doorbell

While doorbells are not built into your house to cause panic in you, people with anxiety will experience it anyway. You may be scared when you hear the doorbell because you were not expecting visitors to come today and you do not know what to expect. You already assume that it can mean you are in trouble or someone bad is on the other side of the door instead of thinking it could be a friend or a relative popping by for a friendly visit. The panic can also be increased if you have a dog as dogs will automatically bark at the door as soon as the hear the doorbell. Ask yourself if the doorbell you have is too loud or you do not like the sound of the chime. Use the app Ring Doorbell which will give you an alert through your phone when someone is at the door compared to hearing a door chime.

Messy Room

Whenever someone with anxiety has a messy room, it can make you feel like your mind has become disorganized if you can no longer find where anything is. It can make you feel uneasy and even more so if you let the mess get bigger. In order to feel more calm and not lost in your own room, clean a little bit at a time such as a shelf, a drawer, the closet, under the bed, etc. Do not feel like you need to do too much at once. You can even ask a friend to help you go through your stuff to help you decide what holds enough sentimental value to keep. You will feel much lighter and more relaxed the more stuff you are able to throw away and organize.

Phone Notifications

Notifications, especially frequent, have a tendency to bring you panic. You could think that there is something important that you need to do urgently when it could be a notification about a junk mail message or an update on an app. If you feel like you are on edge whenever you hear a notification, you can try to change its sound so that it is more pleasant and optimistic. You can also organize on your phone’s settings what apps are important enough to have notifications for. For example, emails are important to have notifications for in case work is trying to contact you. You do not need to have notifications, however, if a game app keeps notifying you of sales for new upgrades. By recognizing your household triggers, you will know what improvements to make to better treat your anxiety.

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