Recently, Mindful.org published a great article on 11 ways to Calm your anxious mind.
The suggestions the authors provide are quite powerful and can apply to women with high-risk pregnancies even if you have limited activity restrictions or are on bed rest.
Anxiety makes us believe everything is an emergency.
The tricky thing is that when you have a complicated pregnancy, you are at higher risk for experiencing an actual emergency. So your anxiety is completely valid and rooted in reality to an extent.
However, even when you're in a crisis situation like a high-risk pregnancy your mind tricks you into believing that every little thing as an emergency when it was actually isn't.
That’s just how anxiety works.
The downside is that high anxiety creates significant stress for you and your baby which can be an added risk factor for preterm birth. (Tweet that!)
In the Perinatal Wellness Toolbox I share a really powerful guided audio exercise that can help you distinguish between actual emergency and anxiety. I used this exercise even during my pregnancy to help me figure out when my gut was talking to me or if it was just anxiety trying to convince me something was wrong.
What you need to remember about anxiety
When you're feeling anxious it's so important to recognize the thoughts that are feeding into it and just adding fuel to the fire.
Recognizing your triggers, as the authors suggest, is the first step in managing your anxiety before it gets out of control.
Don’t create something additional to be anxious about when you already have so many worries by having a complicated pregnancy.