How to Stay Mindful During Every Stage of the Work Day

What is anxiety?

Dr. Shivanand describesanxiety as "a complex state that can manifest in various forms and intensities, affecting both the mind and the body." He continued, saying, “At its core, anxiety involves feelings of worry, fear, and unease, often accompanied by physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, sweating, trembling, and difficulty concentrating. One way to understand anxiety is to think of it as the mind being overwhelmed by the multitude of thoughts, concerns, and stimuli bombarding it at any given moment. Just like a computer with too many open applications, the mind struggles to process everything efficiently, leading to a sense of being scattered and unable to focus.”

Why do I get anxious when I travel?

When it comes to anxiety specific to travel, the reason for why you may experience these uncomfortable feelings could be due to a multitude of reasons and can vary in intensity from person to person. Dr. Shivanand shared that travel anxiety could be in part due to “fear of the unknown, fear of safety, fear of flying, control issues, and past traumatic experiences,” as well other areas of anxiety including “separation anxiety, social anxiety, and health anxiety.” Dr. Shivanand went on to explain that, although fun, “traveling often involves stepping outside of one's comfort zone and encountering unfamiliar situations, environments, and people. For some individuals, the uncertainty of what to expect can trigger feelings of anxiety.”

No matter why you experience anxiety related to travel, “It's important to recognize that travel anxiety is a common and valid experience, and there are various strategies and coping mechanisms available to help manage it,” offered Dr. Shivanand. “These may include relaxation techniques, cognitive-behavioral strategies, gradual exposure to anxiety-provoking situations, seeking support from mental health professionals, and planning ahead to minimize stressors during travel.”

​How can I control my travel anxiety ahead of my upcoming trip?

• Plan and Prepare in Advance: “Plan your trip ahead of time to reduce uncertainty,” says Dr. Shivanand. “This includes booking accommodations, transportation, and activities in advance, as well as familiarizing yourself with the destination, and local regulations.” Having a loose agenda of things to look forward to when your trip starts is a great way to get excited when thinking about traveling, instead of stressed.
• Practice Relaxation Techniques: “Incorporate relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and meditation to calm and center yourself. [Yoga of Immortals] Breathwork and Advance Cognitive sessions can really help,” says Dr. Shivanand. As the founder of the Yoga of Immortals practice, he uses its principles in his everyday life and has seen how it can positively impact the lives of others from a mental health standpoint. However, any type of yoga, meditation, and other similar practices you're familiar with should help.

• Create a Checklist: “Create a checklist of essential items to pack and tasks to complete before your trip to stay organized and minimize last-minute stressors,” shared Dr. Shivanand. “Organizing your belongings and documents can also help you feel more in control during your travels.” The simple task of crossing off packing items from a list can feel cathartic and ensure you don’t forget anything essential during your travels.
  
• Stay Connected: “Maintain communication with friends or family members before, during, and after your trip,” Dr. Shivanand recommends. “Knowing that you have someone to reach out to for support or guidance can provide reassurance and alleviate feelings of isolation.” News flash, the people you care about care about you too! They’ll be happy to hear from you and walk you through any tough feelings, if need be.
  
• Stay Grounded: “Practice mindfulness and grounding techniques to stay present and centered during your travels,” shared Dr. Shivanand. Embrace the ‘pinch me’ moments of your trip as they happen, this is why you’re traveling in the first place after all!

• Seek Professional Support: “If travel-related anxiety significantly impacts your ability to engage in travel experiences, consider seeking support from a mental health professional,” says Dr. Shivanand. Listen; asking for help is okay, and something that you should do if it will have a positive impact on your life.
• Incorporate Meditative & Wellness Daily: In doing so, Dr Shivanand says, "One can effectively manage travel-related anxiety and enjoy your travel experiences with greater ease and confidence.” Dr. Shivanand reiterates that “it's okay to seek support and take proactive steps to prioritize your mental well-being during your travels.”

Emma Watson's Daily Journal Prompts

3 Things That Were Joyful

Whether you choose to write every morning about the day before, or you cozy up with your journal and a cup of tea at night to write about your day, highlight three things that encouraged you or made you smile. It's so easy to get caught up in all of the bad things happening, both personally and worldwide, but when you focus on the good, the good really does get better. It will also make a huge impact at the end of your week, then your month, then your year, to look back on all the goodness you experienced.

3 Acts Of Kindness

Remembering back on acts of kindness — either from yourself or from other people — will remind you of how many good people are in your life! These acts of kindness can be as simple as giving someone a compliment or paying it forward at your favorite Starbucks.

3 Self Affirmations

It's absolutely vital to growth and our relationships to others that we get to know ourselves. You can tailor your self affirmations to something you need to hear in the moment, write the same thing every day, or set the goal to write something new every single day. Once you understand the roots of everything from your insecurities to your favorite memories, then you'll be able to be a truer version of yourself!

Other Daily Journal Prompts

Daily Journal Prompts For Growth

Work through what growth looks like for you right now — and in the future — as well as any habits that might be preventing you from growing the way you need to. (via Brit + Co)

Relationship Journal Prompts

These daily journal prompts will help you figure out what you're personally looking for in a romantic relationship, but also how to better relate to the people around you. (via Brit + Co)

Mental Health Daily Journal Prompts

We mentioned the emotional and mental health benefits of journaling earlier, and these prompts will help you delve deep into emotions, gratitude, your imagination, and some time for self-reflection. (via Brit + Co)

Fall Journal Prompts For Creativity

Journaling is also great for creatives because it can serve as an outlet for so many different things. You can process events with poetry or short stories, or just work through a single idea by writing about it. You can't go wrong. (via Brit + Co)

Personality Types And How They Deal With Stress

The personality type framework, as measured by the Myers-Briggs(MBTI) assessment, looks at four aspects of personality:

• Extraversion-Introversion — People with an Extraversion personality preference are energized by and focus their attention on what’s happening around them, their external world. They are likely to find spending too much time alone without enough external stimulation quite stressful. People with an Introversion preference are energized by and focus their attention on their inner world of thoughts and feelings. They can become stressed if they are forced to spend too much time with others, or when they have to cope with too many external distractions.
• Sensing-Intuition — is all about how we take in information. People with a Sensing preference prefer information that is realistic, practical, built on past or present real-life experiences, and often detailed. They can be stressed when things are ambiguous and unclear, without any clear direction. People with an Intuition preference are interested in the big picture, in how things connect, and in ideas rather than facts. They will find having to follow exact instructions stressful, and working with people who demand lots of detail.
• Thinking-Feeling —People with a Thinking preference want to make decisions using objective logic and will be stressed when decisions seem to be subjective, or when they are forced to concentrate on people rather than the task at hand. People with a Feeling preference want to make decisions that line up with their values and they will be stressed if they feel that those values are not being respected, and when there is conflict.
• Judging-Perceiving — People with a Judging preference want to live in an organized, planned way and will find dealing with disorganized people stressful, or having to rush things at the last minute. People with a Judging preference want to live in a more spontaneous, emergent way and will become stressed when they have to deal with inflexible people, or when they are forced to make decisions before they feel they really need to.

Everyone will have a preference for Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I), for Sensing (S) or for Intuition (N), for Thinking (T) or for Feeling (F), and for Judging (J) or for Perceiving (P). These four preferences combine together dynamically to give one of 16 types. For example, if someone has preferences for Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging, then their overall type would be ESTJ. If you know your type, you can identify your likely stressors (and so avoid or mitigate them), your typical behavior under everyday stress (so that you can recognize when you are stressed) and what to do to cope with that reaction, stop the stress cycle and so build resilience. Here’s the detail for each type.

ESTP and ESFP

Stressors

• Lack of stimulation and excitement
• Theoretical, abstract tasks without any practical application right now
• Being physically confined, e.g. though illness or circumstance

Behavior under everyday stress

• Seeks out more and more external stimulation and excitement
• May behave in a thrill-seeking or dangerous way or over-indulge
• Lives solely in the present moment and will not make any decisions

How to stop the stress cycle

• Pause, stop what you are doing, or think through what you will do next before you do it

ESTJ and ENTJ

Stressors

• Inefficient people, systems, or organizations
• Lack of closure, not being able to make decisions, blockers
• Having to focus on people's feelings, rather than the task

Behavior under everyday stress

• Becomes overly directive, forceful, or even aggressive
• Makes snap decisions and imposes them on others
• Dismisses evidence/other opinions that don't fir your view

How to stop the stress cycle

• Stop making any decisions until you have taken some time out to explore all the available information.

ENTP and ENFP

Stressors

• People who say "it'll never work"
• Too much seemingly irrelevant detail
• Lack of variety; not being able to do anything new

Behavior under everyday stress

• Shares increasingly impractical ideas with more and more people
• Unable to take things seriously, becomes destructively 'playful'
• Will be tied down to decisions

How to stop the stress cycle

• Slow down. Take some time out to quietly decide on a course of action

ESFJ and ENFJ

Stressors

• Conflict with others and between others
• Lack of warmth, not having friendliness reciprocated
• Injustice in the world at large

Behavior under everyday stress

• Become effusive and over-friendly
• Becomes demanding in getting your own and others' needs met
• Interprets situations in terms of your values, ignoring any other evidence

How to stop the stress cycle

• Step back from the situation and the people involved and consider alternatives and the facts

INTP and ISTP

Stressors

• Having your carefully reasoned solutions dismissed or ignored
• Illogical decisions that have not been thought through
• Excessive displays of approval or emotion from others

Behavior under everyday stress

• Withdraws to solve problems by yourself
• Fixates on finding the one correct solution
• Ignores other people; makes decisions without informing them

How to stop the stress cycle

• Talk to others to explore information and ideas

ISTJ and ISFJ

Stressors

• Having to act without detailed, practical information or plans
• Having the lessons of your experience dismissed by others
• Changing things that already work

Behavior under everyday stress

• Obsessively searches for that one important piece of information
• Withdraws from the outer world
• Cannot make a decision until all the information has been found

How to stop the stress cycle

• Talk to others to help you prioritize and make a decision

ISFP and INFP

Stressors

• People who ignore, dismiss, or contravene your values
• Working in a job that is at odds with those values
• Inflexible and unthinking people or organizations

Behavior under everyday stress

• Withdraws into an inner dialogue
• Obsessively works through decisions that fir your values
• Ignores facts that do not fit with the picture you have painted

How to stop the stress cycle

• Talk to others to get their reassurance and help in considering the facts and alternatives

INTJ and INFJ

Stressors

• Not having time to think through possibilities before answering
• Having your well-considered ideas dismissed or ignored
• Disorganized, opinionated people

Behavior under everyday stress

• Withdraws to build increasingly complex ideas in your head
• These models may become divorced from reality
• Unable to act under every possibility has been explored

How to stop the stress cycle

• Talk to others to help decide which of your many ideas should be pursued