Mindset
How to Control Your Anxiety Like a Navy SEAL
Create an “unbeatable” mindset
Do stress and anxiety ever harm your life?
Have you ever been unable to escape the spiral of negative thinking?
Do you wish you could get out of your head and have less anxiety?
Stress and anxiety are linked to so many health issues I couldn’t begin to list them here. Even worse, a recent study conducted by the CDC found that both are on the rise due to the pandemic. You’re probably feeling the effects in one way or another.
You don’t need me to tell you what will happen if you don’t manage your stress and anxiety levels.
- Your health will be impacted which means it will start to decline.
- You’ll be unable to function at your best which means you’ll make mistakes at your job, potentially putting yourself in danger of losing it.
- You’ll be tired and unfocused which means won’t be present with the ones who mean the most to you.
How Do You Handle Anxiety?
In 2018 I started experiencing anxiety like never before.
It began after I took a new job that was far from home, in a field that was foreign to me. I had recently made the gut-wrenching decision to close the non-profit I started but wasn’t able to grow. A family member was gracious enough to help me get an entry-level retail job at the company where he worked.
I felt like I was fighting a losing battle every day. My anxiety levels were sky-high. I was always afraid I would make a mistake that would cost me my job. My anxiety was situational unlike the chronic anxiety like many people have. Still, I knew I had to learn how to manage it at a higher level.
When I started the job, I stumbled across a book called Unbeatable Mind: Forging Mental Toughness by Mark Divine. It gave me tools to help get a handle on my stress and anxiety.
Mark is a retired Navy SEAL Commander, a martial arts master, yogi, and entrepreneur. If anybody knows how to get your anxiety under control, it’s this guy.
SEALs operate at an elite level because they know how to discipline their minds and secure the win internally before they enter the fight. -Mark Divine
Unbeatable Mind covers much more than handling stress and anxiety. But the ability to control both create the foundation for any other success.
These practices will help you get your anxiety under control too.
Feed the Courage Wolf
Mark uses a vivid metaphor of a “fear wolf” and a “courage wolf” to explain two different mindsets.
Both of these wolves exist in your mind. If you feed the fear wolf, you’re controlled by your emotions. If you feed the courage wolf, you can forge mental toughness and starve thoughts of fear.
How do you feed the courage wolf? By interrupting and redirecting your negative and stressful thoughts. Here’s how it’s done according to Divine.
- Witness your negativity
- Interdict, or stop, the negative thoughts with a power statement
- Redirect your mind with self-talk and imagery to something positive
When you catch yourself in a negative or stressful thought, interrupt it with a powerful statement.
Divine says doing this serves to “shock your monkey mind back into control.” The statement you use has to resonate with you. You can say it out loud, but I’ve also found that thinking the statement is helpful.
When I interrupt my thought pattern, I use something like “I can handle this!” or “This is easy!”
It sounds silly but it breaks your pattern of negative or anxious thinking. For a millisecond it stills your mind and opens a door to take your thoughts in a different direction. As Divine says “The secret for a successful redirect is to inject a new positive thought pattern into your stilled mind that aligns with your immediate goal.”
The goal is to redirect your mind in a positive direction. Then you can follow the interruption with a positive quote or maxim that puts you in a different mindset.
My favorites are “I will find a way, or I will make a way” or even something as simple as “I am enough.”
Interrupting and redirecting your thought pattern is the essential first step to busting stress and anxiety. But if you aren’t careful, you’ll fall right back into the negative patterns.
That’s where you have to apply Mark’s secret sauce for staying calm and positive under pressure.
Breathe Like a Warrior
Over the past few years, research has shown breathing from your diaphragm has positive effects on mental cognition (thinking) and cortisol levels (stress).
Most people breathe too shallow or too quickly. Deep, slow breaths are the way to calm your mind.
“The trained warrior will take three to five breaths per minute, greatly reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in his system while maintaining a calm body and mind.” -Mark Divine
Mark teaches a practice called Box Breathing to help with mental control. Here’s how it works.
- Take a deep breath for five seconds. First, fill your belly–then your chest–with air. This should fill your lungs to capacity.
- Hold that breath for five seconds. Don’t clamp down and put pressure on your ribs and back. Hold it there.
- After five seconds, slowly release the air until your lungs are empty. Do another count of five.
- With your lungs empty, count to five and begin again.
You have one true organ for breathing — your nose. Breathing through your mouth all the time can cause health problems like allergies, sinus infections, and asthma. In children, it can lead to developmental issues.
Breathing through the nose is the only way to experience the benefits of Box Breathing. According to Mark, nasal breathing stimulates nerves in the parasympathetic nervous system that helps reduce stress.
Follow the Example of a Navy SEAL
Everyone deals with stress and anxiety at different levels.When I adopted these practices, I was able to get greater control over the anxiety that came with my new job.
Learning how to interrupt and redirect your negative thoughts will help you get control of your mind when you feel anxious.
Practicing slow breathing from the diaphragm — through exercises like box breathing — will help you stay focused and positive.
You’ll be amazed at how your anxiety decreases when you use these tools as you need them. They worked for me, and they’ll work for you too.
