Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
I’m a fan of finding ways to deal with stress and anxiety. Who isn’t? Lately, we’ve been handling this as a group thanks to the “Find Your Calm” cards that I got from Sam. So, how well have they been working for me?
At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to remember to do these cards on a daily basis. But once I added them to the Monday night live streams and involved my YouTube audience, they’ve been working relatively well.
So, we turned it into a community thing that everyone can join. In case you’re wondering, I’m live on YouTube every Monday at 7 pm Mountain Time.
What Are Find Your Calm Cards?
According to Sam, she picked up the Find Your Balance cards at Five Below. It’s a store that sells most products for $5…think of a Dollar General or Dollar Tree but with a better quality of products.
This is a set of 24 cards that have tips on how to be more mindful while relieving anxiety and stress.
Each card has an exercise for you to do while giving a bit of information as to why. On the back, the cards have a prompt for you to follow while providing several lines to write your response.
For instance, one card has “I am Feeling…” and then you write in the spaces how you’re feeling and why.
So far, I’ve picked up a couple of habits from these cards and look forward to what the others have in store. It’s simply an engaging way to help you create habits to help alleviate stress and anxiety.
Unfortunately, I can’t find these particular cards on Amazon. However, there are plenty of similar Find Your Calm products such as workbooks.
How Does Find Your Calm Impact Writing?
So, you may be wondering, why am I writing about these anxiety-reducing cards on a writing blog. Well, maybe not, actually. Most writers understand just how much anxiety and stress play a role in creating content.
Whether you’re a blogger, freelance writer, or author, the levels of anxiety you could hit on any given day can be maddening. At least, I know they are for me.
Being able to relax and find moments of peace throughout the day can help you keep focused and productive while improving efficiency. This is because stress lowers productivity while causing a myriad of physical and mental problems.
This is one of the biggest reasons why I always suggest exercising in the mornings. Your mental health contributes greatly to any career path you choose, but it is especially beneficial for writers as it improves cognitive function, memory, and mood.
In reality, your brain is the most important organ in your body. And anything you can do to improve its health will affect you in some profound ways.
For example, being clear-minded will help you negotiate more pay as a freelancer, make fewer irrational decisions, and improve relations with clients.
As a blogger, mental health can improve the quality of your posts, help you plan out your content, and make it easier to create the articles that will drive traffic.
When writing a novel, it’s much the same. A better frame of mind makes it easier to process the story while putting your best work forward.
Incorporating Find Your Calm Into the Live Streams
We live in a world where there is a constant barrage of stress-inducing elements. In fact, as I write this, I am being bombarded on Slack by various clients who want things RIGHT NOW.
Anyway, dealing with anxiety only helps you become a better writer regardless of what path you take. As such, I felt it would be a great addition to the channel since I help creators of all kinds.
After all, I try to cover blogging, freelance writing, and self-publishing…all things related to writing.
So, why have I incorporated anxiety relief into my live streams?
Motivating Myself to Follow Through
I tend to forget a lot. Perhaps it has something to do with age, stress, or simply being overloaded with various projects. Maybe all of the above.
In any case, adding the Find Your Calm cards to the Monday live stream helps me follow through.
Not only do I announce the next card several times for those who just joined the show, but I also add it to the community tab the next day. Or, at least I try to remember to do so.
This helps establish that it’s something I want to do throughout the week. It’s all about getting the action ingrained into memory.
Getting the Community Engaged in Other Ways
Granted, I’m not the most popular YouTuber on the platform. In fact, my videos don’t get a lot of views thanks to YouTube suppressing them for some reason. So, I need to find ways to get the existing community involved as much as I can.
I can’t sit around and wait to build up a large audience when I have several people who seem to really enjoy the content I create.
Doing something as a group involves the viewers and gives them something to look forward to each week. And as I am a proponent of anything anti-stress and anti-anxiety, I felt this would be a great addition.
Helping Others Find a Path
Lastly, it’s in my nature to help others if humanly possible. I wish I could do more, and often feel terrible if I can’t find a way to do so. It’s why I maintain more than half of the sites I own, even though I could make more money going back to freelancing.
I spend quite a bit of time on blog posts and videos not to make that mad content money. It’s the comments from others who tell me that I’ve helped them in some way.
That is what drives me to do most of the things I do in a day. And if I can help alleviate anxiety for just one person, then I’d call it a success.
Especially when you consider my past history with family members and mental illness. I don’t want anyone to go through the problems I’ve had.
How Do You Find Your Calm?
Whether you watch my Monday live streams or not, it’s imperative you find a way to make life easier. Exercise, journal, see a therapist…anything that is going to improve your quality of life is of great benefit.
Not only will it improve your writing prowess and professionalism, but it will open all kinds of awesome things in life. When you’re able to process information better, you’ll find a variety of opportunities you didn’t notice were available.
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