What is anxiety? “Anxiety is a normal and often healthy emotion. However, when a person regularly feels disproportionate levels of anxiety, it might become a medical disorder. Anxiety disorders form a category of mental health diagnoses that lead to excessive nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry.” 1
Working in the Entertainment Industry can be stressful at times. During the past few weeks alone due to COVID-19, festivals, concerts, tours, and corporate gigs were canceled. This aftermath created a lot of fear and anxiety not only in our work industry but many others as well.
As someone who deals with anxiety and mental health, I think it is very important for Mental Health Awareness to be brought into light during this difficult time for many. In this article, I will discuss coping skills for anxiety that are worth sharing.
Take a Time Out
With everything going on in the news it’s a good time to take time out and learn Mindfulness.
Mindfulness is “ the process of purposely bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment, which one develops through the practice of meditation and through other training” Turn off your phone. Go for a walk. Listen to music. Practice Yoga. 2
Exercise your Mindfulness skills.
Accept That You Cannot Control Everything
Anxiety mostly stems from worrying about things we cannot control. We are powerless over things we cannot control. What we are in control of though, are our emotions and reactions. This is a great time to learn how to channel negative emotions and problems into positive thoughts and solutions.
Reach Out
Whenever we are feeling down and out, it is best to reach out. Talking about your feelings with others is a great way to express yourself. I am thankful for the SoundGirls Facebook Group!
There are so many people sharing resources and being an outlet for one another during this hard time.
Anxiety is a normal emotion, but it cannot define us and take over our lives. We must learn how to cope with negative emotions and thoughts. This isn’t a process that can happen overnight, but with hard work, discipline, and coping skills we can all overcome our fears and anxiety.
1 Felman, A. (2020, January 11). Anxiety: Overview, symptoms, causes, and treatments. Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323454 2 Felman, A. (2020, January 11). Anxiety: Overview, symptoms, causes, and treatments. Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323454
Alyasia Muhammad-Turner is a freelance sound engineer and musician, currently based in Atlanta. Her work consist of running FOH for local Atlanta artist, teaching flute lessons, and editing podcasts. Alyasia’s goal is to continue education and training for women, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ in STEM fields. Alyasia will be blogging about Mental Health and Music Education.
About Alyasia holds a BS in Recording Arts from Full Sail University. As a high schooler, Alyasia studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, obtaining college credits studying Contemporary Music. Her love of music and science fuels her passion and creativity in the audio industry. She’s empowered by the community SoundGirls has created and hopes to help pave the way for others. In her free time, Alyasia enjoys making playlists, roller skating, being a dog mom, and volunteering at her local LGBTQ+ homeless shelter.