MANAGING YOUR PERSISTENT FEARS AND ANXIETIES

By: Stanley Popovich

Everybody deals with anxiety and depression, however some people have a hard time in managing it. As a result, here is a brief list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their most persistent fears and every day anxieties.

When facing a current or upcoming task that overwhelms you with a lot of anxiety, the first thing you can do is to divide the task into a series of smaller steps. Completing these smaller tasks one at a time will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

Sometimes we get stressed out when everything happens all at once. When this happens, a person should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few minutes to get their mind off of the problem.  A person could get some fresh air, listen to some music, or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things.

A person should visualize a red stop sign in their mind when they encounter a fear provoking thought. When the negative thought comes, a person should think of a red stop sign that serves as a reminder to stop focusing on that thought and to think of something else. A person can then try to think of something positive to replace the negative thought.

Another technique that is very helpful is to have a small notebook of positive statements that makes you feel good. Whenever you come across an affirmation that makes you feel good, write it down in a small notebook that you can carry around with you in your pocket.  Whenever you feel depressed or frustrated, open up your small notebook and read those statements.  This will help to manage your negative thinking.

Learn to take it one day at a time. Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your problems. You never know when the answers you are looking for will come to your doorstep. We may be ninety-nine percent correct in predicting the future, but all it takes is for that one percent to make a world of difference.

Take advantage of the help that is available around you. If possible, talk to a professional who can help you manage your depression and anxieties. They will be able to provide you with additional advice and insights on how to deal with your current problem.  By talking to a professional, a person will be helping themselves in the long run because they will become better able to deal with their problems in the future.  Remember that it never hurts to ask for help.

Dealing with our persistent fears is not easy.  Remember that all you can do is to do your best each day, hope for the best, and take things in stride. Patience, persistence, education, and being committed in trying to solve your problem will go along way in fixing your problems.

BIOGRAPHY:

Stan Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” - an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to: http://www.managingfear.com/

I have Spanish speaking people in my household and I do not buy DVD’s without a Spanish track. As most Spanish speaking people in the U.S. know, almost every DVD made in the U.S. has English, and a FRENCH audio track.

Almost every DVD contains a French language track for the benefit of less than 7,000,000 French speaking Canadians. There are 45,000,000 Spanish speaking persons in the United States. Why do the studios ignore this market? Have you ever tried watching a movie and reading subtitles?

The total population of Canada (French and English speaking) is about 32,000,000. That’s a total Canadian market of 10 to 13 million LESS than the American Latino market. To accommodate the Canadian market with a French audio track, and ignore the American Latino market is not only an ignorant business practice, but raises the specter of possible racial overtones. This matter needs to be raised with each movie studio’s management, as I intend to raise it with Latino activist groups.

Protecting the Mexican market (merchants) from cross border purchases is certainly no excuse for denying American Latinos the benefit of a Spanish language audio track. It needs to be brought to the various studios attention that legitimate purchases by Latinos in the US are likely more valuable to the “bottom line” the Mexican market sales, which consist largely of pirate discs.

Latino groups should bring these facts to the attention of all motion picture studios and DVD manufacturers. Latino children are mostly hurt by this because they lack the ability to read subtitles as quickly as adults.

Check out the numbers. They don’t have a leg to stand on.

James Carlquist