If you’re anything like me, I’m sure this quarantine has brought on some unprecedented anxiety and depression into your life too. It’s easy to get bogged down by these hopeless feelings, wondering if and when your life will ever return to normal. Maybe you’ve lost your job, had to move back into your parents house, or haven’t seen your friends in months. Whatever it is you are going through right now, I want you to know that you aren’t alone, and these things are fixable! Here are my top 3 tips for coming out of your anxiety and depression during this quarantine, and instead finding growth and development in your life.
- Manifest- I know this sounds silly (and maybe repetitive if you’ve listened to my past manifestation podcast episodes) but manifestation is truly something that gives me so much hope every single day. If you’re feeling stuck in a life that doesn’t make you happy, guess what? You have the ability to change it all. There are so many ways you can go about manifesting your dream life, but I’ll give you a few ways that I do it every day. First thing I do when I wake up is usually reach for my phone. You too? Well, instead of jumping straight onto TikTok or Instagram, try going on Pinterest instead. I know, you’re probably thinking ‘Olivia, isn’t Pinterest like, dead? Does that even still exist?’ I’m here to confirm that Pinterest is still alive kicking! Create a manifestation board, and pin at least 5 images that look like your dream life. It can be a yard, a house, a city, a dog, a mans, or anything that sparks a little fire and desire inside of you. Put on a little inspirational music while you’re pinning. Sometimes when I’m feeling sad, I literally just open my Pinterest and look at my manifestation board and admire all of the beautiful things I see for myself! Check out my Pinterest here for some inspo. Some other manifestation techniques you can try are manifesting meditations, the law of attraction, or the 17 second rule.
2. Take Inspired Action– This may sound obvious, but taking action toward your dream life is always a step in the right direction. I believe that manifestation and inspired action are the dream team. Manifest, meditate and let the universe do its thing. But also look at new jobs, do research on new cities and apartments, and almost act out the dream life you want. When I moved to New York City, I didn’t have a job or an apartment or even roommates lined up. I just knew I wanted to go there! So I applied for jobs, spoke with people I knew who lived there, researched, etc. I even called apartment buildings and reached out to realtors with questions about rent, walls, etc! I literally acted like I was moving there. I even went online and found roommates when I had no plans of living there. Well guess what? I landed a job in NYC through a mutual friend, I had the roommates lined up already, and had apartment buildings saved on Zillow ready to go view. It all happened for me so quickly after that, but I lived in NYC for 3 years and loved it. Sometimes I can’t believe I actually made it happen!
3. Anxiety & Depression Techniques– Sometimes no matter how much manifesting or action you take toward your goals, life can just be anxiety inducing. It happens- we are in the midst of a pandemic after all! But there are ways to cope. I know it’s hard to see a therapist or your doctor right now, and it can feel like there’s no one around to help you. But trust me, it’s going to be ok! These techniques I’m going to talk about are ones you can do from the comfort of your own home, on your own time. Let’s start with Tapping. EFT Tapping is basically an exercise where you tap on different pressure points of your face, while saying statements out loud. Let’s say I’m anxious about a job interview. You start by tapping with your fingers between your brows, then your temple, then under your eye, then your collar bone. Each place that you tap you will say a statement out loud aligning with your fear, then the contrary. So tap between your brow and say I’m worried about this job interview. I am going to mess up. Then to the next point- this job interview will be ok. I will succeed. I will succeed, I won’t succeed. Either way, I’m going to be ok. Then at the end of your tapping you will squeeze one wrist and say “Peace”. Keep going for a few rounds, and after every time notice if you feel the same anxiety, more or less. For me, tapping helps to confuse my brain and my emotions by saying contradictory statements. It also helps to numb me out until I don’t feel much about the situation anymore. For my other anxiety technique, you’ll have to listen to my podcast below!
Olivia Lagaly 