Mama, It’s Anxiety

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Worry is something that comes with a territory when you become a mother. Of course, you would have experienced worrying before motherhood, but the way you worry changes. You no longer just worry about job loss or asteroid attacks: you worry your child will be hurt. You worry you’ll wake up to a child who has died of SIDS in the night. You’ll worry your child will be taken by kidnappers while you’re in the shopping centres. These may sound irrational – and they are.

Irrational worrying is called something very different when you’re a parent: anxiety. And Mama, anxiety as a mother is HARD. It’s not until you’re a parent you truly understand the phrase “your heart is outside your body when you have children”. It’s natural and ingrained in your very soul that you will worry when you are a mother. Your body created this whole new person from scratch; built the eyeballs and structured the muscles and the very beating heart in their chest. Why wouldn’t you worry about such a masterpiece? 

The problems arise when you don’t seek help. You need to know that you are going to be supported with your anxious thoughts. They can become intrusive, and while there are ways to help anxiety, such as with learning the pros and cons of CBD oil, you need a village around you to keep you upright when all you want to do is hold your head in your hands. You need to get the right answers as to whether this is just anxiety or if you are sinking into postpartum depression. 

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It can be difficult to tell when normal worries become full-blown anxiety. Well, worries come and go. Anxiety is a constant underlying fear that bites you on the behind every chance it gets. The most important thing to do is recognise how you are feeling. The body responds to anxiety in different ways for different people, and you can recognise the symptoms, from the racing heart rate to shallow breathing. You need to calm your body right down to be able to focus on what’s correct and not panic so much. There are ways that you can do that, including these five things:

1. Learn to breathe deeply. That sounds nuts: everyone knows how to breathe, right? Well, you can learn how to take in as much air as your lungs will hold. Inhale for five seconds, exhale for five. Repeat this five times.
2. Distraction helps. Anything that could distract you from your panic will work, from walking to watching TV to reading.
3. Talk to someone and get some support. They can talk you through the panic you feel and make you feel calm and comfortable.
4. Practice self-care. Eat a good meal, shower slowly, sleep as much as you can with kids!
5. Remember that this anxiety isn’t reality. It’s your mind showing you scary things that don’t really exist. 

Ask for help, Mama. Ask for help and your anxiety can be easier to handle.

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