Make a list, check it twice. Double back over sort through the naughty and nice. No, this isn’t a Santa morning routine. This is one of my key management tactics for keeping my anxiety level.
I’m Franki Hanke. I’m a freelance designer and copywriter, and I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Diagnostically, there’s several points for diagnosis, but simplified it’s anxiety that is well above normal levels and affecting your daily function. For me, anxiety has been integral in my personality since high school.
I was a “try hard.” My homework was always done as far ahead as possible. I had the term paper started before the teacher gave out the assignment. I’d email asking for details on assignments so I could start them. This wasn’t a ploy to impress, this was necessary. In college, I was the same, but this anxious over-preparation was beneficial.
However, a combination of courses outside my wheelhouse and the death of my support animal in my junior year, I found a new level of my anxiety disorder. Frequent migraines, infrequent sleep, and Valleyfair level mood swings became my life for several months.
Fast forward through a lot of back and forth with the doctor. I implemented every possible step to set myself up for success. I leaned on my planning and organisation, but I also hit the gym, spent time outside, bought a happy light, and regulated my routine while we experimented with the right medication for me. Spoiler alert though, medication wasn’t my solution.
For me, the side effects of the medications were much worse. Instead, my anxiety is incredibly well managed by a heavy schedule of self-care and planning. I still have times where my anxiety is outside of routine, but having most of my life organised allows that worry some space to live when I can’t prepare for something.
I’ve found, for me, I need to plan. If I can sort the things on my mind to be done, I can leave them alone. Instead of never pausing work out of fear, I’m able to put to do’s into the future and leave them on the paper until it’s time to pick them back up. Additionally, my life needs exercise and pets. Both in balancing my mood and helping me sleep, the times where I go days without the gym, I become more susceptible to slumping in my mood and finding apathy rather than action. My support animal, Misa, is my second official support animal, but I’ve had pets my entire life who I leaned on. Pets give you a task outside of your own worries. When my mind is too much, I can turn to her.
Experimenting for almost a year with medications, supplements, and routine to create a life like this wasn’t enjoyable, at times, it was worse than before I reached out for help, but I’m glad it happened. I’m still not the image of perfect management. I could list things I could do better, but my anxiety is now simply a part of my life, not my entire life.