Everyone feels stress and worry sometimes, and many of us deal with anxiety. For people in addiction recovery, these emotions can throw us off track—either because they’re triggers for us, or because we have learned to use substances to quiet our emotional discomfort. Grounding techniques are coping strategies that can help us refocus our attention away from our anxious thoughts or worries.
Here are three grounding techniques to try next time your thoughts spiral:
Tell yourself the story of your day
When our thoughts circle around an emotion or situation, it can help to draw our attention back to the present. One way to do this is to narrate to ourselves exactly what we’re doing and experiencing. You can do this in your head or (if you’re in a place where it feels comfortable to do so) out loud. The idea here is that putting our actions and experiences into words helps us pay attention to where we are and what we’re doing, rather than to the thoughts that had been occupying us.
Here’s an example: “I’m folding my laundry. It’s still warm from the dryer and it smells good. This is my favorite shirt.”
It’s a basic and easy technique that can help to ground us in the here and now.
Focus on the physical
Paying attention to your body and the physical sensations you’re feeling can be very grounding. There are a lot of ways to do this, like:
- breathing deeply and feeling the air traveling in and out of your lungs
- holding a piece of ice and focusing on the sensation of it in your hands
- pressing your shoulders up toward your ears and then back down
If you find that focusing on physical sensation works well for you, you might consider finding an object that you really like the texture of and carrying it with you. For example, a soft, fuzzy piece of fabric; a small, sealed tub of slime; a cool, smooth stone; etc. Then when you start to spiral, you can rub your fingers over that object and focus on the texture to ground yourself.
Memory and lists
Focusing on a mental activity can help you shift out of stressful thought pattern. This doesn’t have to be heavy—we’re not asking you to pass a test!
- Memory: Pick something you know well and try to remember everything about them. Did you have a childhood pet? Try to remember what they looked like, their favorite toy, how they sounded when they were excited. Or think about a familiar place and try to remember every single thing in it.
- Lists: Pick a category and list of as many things that fit the category as you can in one minute. Like, as many football teams, fairy tale characters, kinds of fish, or shades of blue as you can.
When you do this kind of grounding exercise, make sure to pick memories or categories that you feel neutral of positive about. It’s not very helpful to switch from focusing on one source of stress to another.
Remember that it’s normal and human to feel upset sometimes. If you find yourself dwelling anxiously on one thought, worry, or fear, try these grounding techniques. You might find that they help you to refocus and feel calmer. And if you discover that anxiety is impacting your life, talk to your healthcare provider to see if they have suggestions or treatment options.