Hi,
I'm Scarlet,
Therapist and meditation teacher.
And in this video,
I want to talk to you about how to actually calm nerves before you are going to a doctor's visit.
So obviously I have no idea of the context of any doctor's visit that may be happening for you.
I'm not sure what that will obviously be about.
But is of course really,
Really common to feel extremely nervous before going to the doctors.
And so what I would say straight away,
If you're not already familiar with practices that focus on your body,
That focus very much on calming your nervous system.
They're going to be really powerful for you here.
So what we might use is something like as the the appointment is approaching we might use our go-tos for that.
So for me that may be four eight breathings,
That may be doing several rounds of in for four,
Out for eight.
Someone else that may be constantly coming into their senses,
What can I see,
What can I taste,
What can I touch,
I would really have a good toolbox of that.
If you're not already doing that,
Make sure you are doing that.
However,
Of course,
It can still feel like,
No matter how much you're doing that,
Your mind's still going to all sorts of places.
One thing I would say to really have in mind is that The appointment and the doctor is there to support you and to help you.
Now,
If the doctor doesn't feel very supportive,
That's another thing,
And getting the right support is kind of another thing,
Which is obviously really important.
But on the whole,
This is remembering that I'm not going in to face someone or something that is there to just deliver something to me or do something kind of to me.
I'm actually being held by someone.
It's actually their job to do the holding for me.
Now,
Obviously,
It doesn't mean that's going to take away all the anxiety,
But for you,
You may have some feelings around that.
And what I would say is perhaps looking at what are my feelings around being supported and being held by another,
And in this situation,
A doctor or practitioner.
Because it can almost feel like you forget that.
Oh,
Actually someone is here supporting and holding me.
It's not me having to kind of do this here.
You know that this is a form of support for me.
The other thing I would say is really watching the all or nothing thinking and catastrophizing.
This is kind of a perfect opportunity really for catastrophizing to come in.
Catastrophizing being when we jump to worst case scenario.
So it's very,
Very normal in a situation like this to not feel like we can stay with,
Well maybe I'm fine,
Maybe nothing's wrong,
And then jump to the very worst case scenario.
One technique that you can use there is,
Okay,
I'm going to this doctor's appointment tomorrow.
My mind is jumping to worst case scenario.
That's really scary.
I've heard that.
I've seen that in my own mind.
Now what is all the in-between?
And we kind of end up working backwards from there.
So,
Whoa,
My mind's jumped to worst-case scenario.
I see what that is.
That's really scary.
And what else are the other options?
Because you may be telling yourself,
I'm either okay or I'm really,
Really,
Really not.
And you may be underestimating there are many options in between.
So you may even just name to them,
Okay,
There could be this,
There could be that,
And we don't want to get too caught up in those stories,
But we may just want to name there are multiple other things that I could hear in this appointment.
That aren't just one thing or another.
And it's also okay to feel all sorts of emotions,
To feel frustrated,
To feel angry,
To feel very fearful,
To feel sad.
And perhaps just allowing yourself a bit of space to feel those feelings that There's not much you can necessarily do to fix that because you're sitting in uncertainty.
But what is it like to let myself actually just name those feelings?
To say,
OK,
I've got this appointment and I feel really scared and I feel really anxious and I feel like my mind and my feelings are going to all these different places.
Bringing a little bit of compassion in for yourself can be really helpful here.
Drawing upon support from loved ones who can be there for you and support you with theirs.
Now,
Yes,
Another thing with anxiety is reassurance seeking,
And that's kind of,
I guess,
Can cross over here.
If ever there's a time that you may be drawing upon support from your support network.
It may be when you're feeling really fearful in a moment like this.
I would say the more you're able to,
Outside of doctor's appointments,
Let's say you don't have any booked in.
Outside of this,
Where you can begin to strengthen the muscle of sitting with uncertainty,
The better.
Because when you've got an appointment like this coming up,
That's obviously when a really big feeling of uncertainty is going to kick in.
And so the goal isn't,
I'm supposed to just feel absolutely fine going to a doctor's appointment.
But if you've already been doing some work in a space like this,
On sitting with uncertainty of all shapes and forms.
It's like it's trained a muscle so that the anxiety may still be there,
But it's not quite as intense because you've been doing some really deep practices on working with uncertainty.
So I'll leave you with that.
If you're obviously going through an experience of any appointments,
I'm wishing you all the best with that.
Be kind to yourself,
Be gentle with yourself.
It's understandable to feel anxious in a moment like this and draw upon this support where you can.
