Written by Trish

Ever find yourself with the constant flutter of anxiety in your stomach before an event?  Sometimes days before the event is to take place?

Well, I’ve found love trumps anxiety!  Here’s how…

• Remember a time when you truly felt loved.  Visualize the scene with all your senses engaged.  If you can’t remember a time, then make one up!
• Practice conjuring up this visceral and sensory image whenever you have a moment to yourself.  Trigger it by saying the word “love”.
• The next time you are experiencing constant anxiety, say “love” to yourself and really experience your loving image.  Keep imagining until you feel the anxiety melt away.
• Then do something loving for yourself.  Pet your cat.  Soak in the tub.  Go for a walk in nature.  Remind yourself this is exactly what you should be doing and feeling right now: self-loved.

What are your thoughts?

I’d really love to hear from you re your experience with coping with anxiety.  Do you have tactics you use to tone-down the anticipatory anxiety in your life?  Or have you tried something similar to the method I outlined above?  How did it work for you?  Please share in the comments below so others reading this post can benefit from your experience too.    

The Madness behind the Muse:

When I have an idea for a cartoon (in this case, I wanted to illustrate “love trumps anxiety”), I imagine it before I start to draw.  For this cartoon, I saw playing cards (to represent the card game Trump) and the higher ranked card motifs as the characters.

The Queen of Hearts represents Love and the Joker represents the trickster mindset of Anxiety.  The other characters/motifs represent some of the feelings and thoughts you may encounter as you invoke your image of love.

Cartoon credit: Trish Hurtubise

Hi. I’m Trish, the founder, curator and an editor for Mental Health Talk. You may view all my posts here.