How can you rapidly calm yourself 30 minutes before an important appointment

Are you ready?

Okay, so you have an important appointment coming up. An interview? A medical appointment? A date?

Whatever the appointment. If you are like me. I get really anxious!

My fight or flight... actually I'm bored with that over used expression... my FLIGHT response makes me want to run to somewhere safe.

But as I have grown older. Yes, aging can be a good thing, especially for strength of mind and finding inner peace. Anyway, I digress. As I have grown older. I have learnt that running away from things actually makes things worse. Instead you need to train your mind to want to run toward the things that make the irrational fear alarm bell ring. Why? Because that is where a life worth living is found. That is where you gain life experience to bloom into the wonderful person you know you are (you do know this - sometimes it is buried deep within by a wall of negative thoughts).

I know! I know! It is easy for me to say this. When you are faced with an appointment that you are nervous about. You feel fear welling up. You become irrational.

So what can you do if you need to calm yourself quickly?

From my experience, these things work:

Fast cardio exercise:

By this I mean you need to get your heart pumping (obviously ensure with your doctor you can safely do this, aka you are in good health). The best ways I have learnt to do this are:

🧑‍⚕️ Get Physical!

If you have little space, say you are waiting for an interviewer or dentist etc to call you, go to the nearest bathroom and - with nobody looking - do either or all of these things as fast as you can: run on the spot (I mean really fast), punch the air in front of you as fast as you can, do rapid squatting up and down. Naturally if you have more time, if for example you are going to your appointment, then walk or run briskly to that appointment, get all of your nervous energy out of your system. Doing this will help!

Breath correctly!

Do you know what 4-7-8 is? You are about to. It is when you breath in for 4 seconds. Hold for 7 seconds. And. Breathe out for 8 seconds. It is ASTOUNDINGLY GOOD! Try it and subscribe to this channel because it is really good and FREE!

🧑‍⚕️ Breathing Technique:

I told you. If you are not feeling relaxed then you haven't done the exercise properly. Please try again. Why am I being so persistent? Because I love you (in a pure non sexual way!). I love you. You are part of my human family. I don't want to think you are suffering needlessly. I am the biggest skeptic on things. I am telling you that this exercise works and you will feel relaxed if you do it properly. So. Please. If you tried it and do not feel relaxed. Keep trying. Add a comment if you need help.

It is worth adding another VERY quick way to control your breathing is to simply hold your breath for as long as you can. This tends to focus your mind and build up any anxious feelings into a convenient mind bomb. What I mean by the latter is. When you finally cannot hold your breath any longer and exhale. That is the bomb exploding. At that point imagine your anxiety exploding out of your mind. Leaving you calm and happier. If you need to. Do it again and again. After you exhale you should allow your body to naturally breathe in and out until it feels settled.

Reset your nervous system!

Sounds a little weird. It is not. Your nervous system is exactly what is making you "feel" anxious. It is the frame connecting all your feelings, sensations and emotions. First there is the vagus nerve, read below for more. Then you have the tapping technique, again see below:

🧑‍⚕️ Vagus Nerve:

🧑‍⚕️ Tapping:

These are amongst some of the main things you can do to calm yourself 30 minutes before and appointment.

In this bonus paragraph I will add some bonus things I do which may also help you. Take a bottle of water and sip it. Take something you can squeeze (I use these). Eat raw ginger before you leave the house to settle your stomach. Chat to family and friends on route to get your thoughts in check (make sure they are the positive thinking supportive type, no negative thinkers, as much as you may love them!).

Okay, I think that is it. You best get going. Will be routing for you. You can do this. Let me know how it goes in the comments below. Take care...


PS: Almost forgot! If you have a pet. Stroke them. Walk them. Give them hugs before your appointment (or take them with you). They will fill you with strength whilst taking away your anxiety.

IMAGE

Christian Jacques Bennett

Please comment below on what you think about this path...

IMAGE

Search Terms: Self Improvement, Anxiety, Phobia, Nervous, Calm, Relax, Stress, Mindset.
Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash
GIF created by Christian Jacques Bennett via: Binge Society