Overcoming Anxiety: Maureen Burdock On Five Effective Strategies for Mental Well-Being
An Interview With Nancy Landrum
Call a friend or relative and invite them to go for a walk or do something gently active together. This can stimulate conversation and help shift thinking in a positive way. Bonding with others also stimulates oxytocin, which makes us feel better.
Anxiety seems to be the dis-ease of our times. More people than ever are taking medications to help them cope with stress. Nearly everyone I talk to is consumed with anxious feelings that hijack any pleasure they could be getting from their lives. The pressure to “produce” combined with a perception of “not enough time,” combines to create anxiety, self-doubt, frustration and resentment. Resentment, then, is often taken out on your closest, most important relationships. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Maureen Burdock, PhD.
Maureen Burdock is a graphic novelist and integrative nutrition health coach. Her art and comics on health-related topics have been exhibited and published globally. Graphic Mundi Press published her graphic memoir, Queen of Snails, in November of 2022. Burdock is working on her third graphic novel, tentatively titled Sleepless Planet: A Graphic Guide to Coping with Insomnia. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her wife and boxer dog.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you tell us a bit about you and your backstory?
Sure! As a graphic novelist and health coach, I’m most interested in creating books about healing and in helping myself and others work through mental and physical challenges. I’ve struggled with anxiety, PTSD, and at times debilitating insomnia since early childhood. A couple of years ago, I decided to write and draw a graphic novel about healing from insomnia. I hoped that doing the research and making the book would help me overcome chronic sleeplessness. It worked! Now I get to share what I’ve learned with others, and the book is slated to be published next year.
As a successful person in your field, have you or do you experience anxiety? And if so, how do you manage, reduce or eliminate anxiety so you can work efficiently and enjoy your non-work hours?
Oh my gosh, yes. I have dealt with this for decades. I used to think anxiety was actually a part of my identity like brown hair and green eyes. When I committed to working on my book about sleep, I started looking at lifestyle habits, diet, even my belief system. My background is in cultural studies, so I looked closely at how I’d been enculturated to believe that my productivity defines me, that rest is a luxury I can’t afford, and that I can sleep when I’m dead. I had to rethink all of that. And then I took a long hard look at what I was eating and drinking. Loads of carbohydrates, things that are essentially stimulating and provide quick energy, plus two or three cups of coffee every morning and a glass or two of wine every night. When I started eating a higher fat diet and eliminating most of the caffeine and the alcohol, my anxiety level came way down, and the panic attacks went away. My health improved tremendously. I was able to start sleeping consistently well without drugs. I also began doing 10–15 minutes of guided meditation at night before bed and paying attention to my breathing during the day. Do you know that a lot of us who work at computers have email apnea? We inhale and forget to exhale, so we sit there holding our breath. I retrained myself. All of this worked.
Have you gone through a period of time in your life where you felt as though you were drowning in anxiety? If so, please share your experience and what you perceive as the reasons.
Yes. I would wake up in the night with panic attacks. During the day, I was constantly worried that what I was doing wasn’t good enough or that I should be focusing on something else. I was also anxious in my relationships, always worried and insecure. I just couldn’t relax. This way of being really peaked when I hit perimenopause. I was in graduate school at the time. As a classic type A overachiever, I was always pushing myself hard and not taking stock of how I was actually treating my body or dealing with stress. I was making myself sick.
What or whom did you lean on to help you cope with anxiety?
I leaned on my wife and on some good friends. I also went to therapy consistently for a couple of years to deal with childhood trauma. That was important, but to be honest, probably not as effective as making some of the lifestyle and nutritional changes I mentioned earlier. There was something else that helped me tremendously in healing from the anxiety resulting from childhood trauma. I drew and wrote a graphic memoir in which I worked through some of the things that had affected me and also my family, including gender-based violence and transgenerational/collective trauma rooted in culture and history. Literally drawing those connections gave me a deeper and broader view and this also helped me heal from chronic anxiety.
What lessons did you derive from that dark period of time, that serve you now?
No matter how difficult emotions are, they are always in flux. Understanding myself in a wider context and reaching out to people I love and who love me helps ease anxiety. Also, often behavior changes are more effective than talking or thinking about stressors. It’s impossible to think your way out of difficult feelings. Instead, focusing on breath and especially slowing down on the exhales can be highly effective for calming the nervous system. Other things I learned that work for coping with stress and anxiety are running, walking, spending time in nature, journaling, and moving a pen or pencil or paintbrush.
Do you have days or circumstances that still cause excessive stress?
Yes, absolutely. Life can sometimes present situations that cause high levels of stress. I have established good habits and a daily routine and bedtime routine that help me cope and keep those levels to a minimum, so my anxiety levels rarely shoot up to where they used to be chronically.
What are your dependable “go to” strategies that you use to restore balance to your emotions?
I use breathing exercises such as counting to four on the inhale, to eight on the exhale or I do the physiological sigh as described by Dr. Andrew Huberman. I do guided meditations for calming the body and mind using a popular yoga and meditation app. I draw and write in a journal regularly. I run and/or walk or do yoga daily. I eat foods that are calming and not stimulating, being careful to avoid high carbohydrate meals and snacks. It’s remarkable what a difference that makes! I limit caffeine consumption and avoid alcohol, because nothing interferes with sleep more than booze. Dialing in an optimal bedtime routine is key, because a well-rested mind and body can cope much, much better with stress than a sleep-deprived one!
Please name five tips, practices, beliefs or affirmations that you recommend to anyone going through a highly stressful time.
1 . Notice your breath. Focus on long exhales to stimulate your rest and digest response and calm down the fight, flight, freeze or fawn response.
2 . Eat foods that promote calm, including those high in stable fats and moderate protein. Avoid seed oils and sugar and ultra-processed foods, because these cause oxidative stress in the body, which also affects the mind.
3 . Avoid alcohol and use caffeine moderately. Avoid caffeine in the second half of the day so it won’t interfere with sleep.
4 . Establish a good daily rhythm with plenty of movement. Get morning sunlight exposure, which raises happy-making serotonin levels and ensures adequate melatonin production to help you sleep in the evening. Eliminate bright lights an hour before bed and establish a relaxing bedtime routine that includes things like a warm bath or shower, meditation, gentle yoga or stretching, reading, and breathwork.
5 . Call a friend or relative and invite them to go for a walk or do something gently active together. This can stimulate conversation and help shift thinking in a positive way. Bonding with others also stimulates oxytocin, which makes us feel better.
On a scale of one-ten, if 8–10 was your former, chronic level of anxiety, how would you score your usual level of anxiety today?
I would say from 0–3
Do you have daily practices that support you in maintaining peace, calmness or balance in your life?
Yes, daily practices are key! As I outlined earlier, a daily routine optimizes those feel-good hormones and regulates the nervous system. A good bedtime routine is also essential, because sleep heals and fortifies body and mind so that we are more resilient in the face of stress.
Was there any particular saying, person, or book that taught you the skills that enable you to escape or avoid the higher levels of anxiety that used to plague you?
No, not really. Though I’m grateful to many thinkers, authors, and friends, I learned to cope well with stress by incorporating a number of beneficial dietary and lifestyle habits.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom with those who are reading this article. Are there also other ways you are sharing your wisdom?
It’s my pleasure! As an integrative nutrition health coach, I now get to help others optimize their sense of mental and physical wellbeing. As an author, I also get to share what I’ve learned with the world, often in playful and humorous ways.
Wonderful. We are nearly done. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)?
Dr. Georgia Ede, Metabolic Psychiatrist and best-selling author of Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind. She is not only brilliant but seems really kind. I’d just love to sit down and have a nice chat with her. ☺
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Like author Tricia Hersey, I believe that rest is resistance. We live in an increasingly anxious world. The best way to change this, and even to save our planet, is by slowing down and supporting saner ways of eating, living, and being for everyone.
How can our readers follow your work online?
Readers can find out more about my health coaching work by visiting www.burdockwellness.com.
They can learn about my graphic novels and other publications at www.maureenburdock.com.
Both sites have contact forms, and I always welcome conversation!
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Thank you for inviting me to share my knowledge with others! It’s been a real pleasure.
About the Interviewer: Nancy Landrum, MA, Relationship Coach, has authored eight books, including “How to Stay Married and Love it” and “Stepping Twogether: Building a Strong Stepfamily”. Nancy has been coaching couples and stepfamilies with transformative communication skills for over thirty years. Nancy is an engaging interviewer and powerful speaker. Nancy has contributed to The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Authority, Medium, Yahoo, MSN, Psych Central, Thrive, Woman’s Day magazine, and more. Nancy is the Founder of the only one of its kind online relationship solution, www.MillionaireMarriageClub.com. Nancy coaches couples across the globe in person and via Zoom. Nancy’s passion is to guide couples and families to happy lasting marriages where children thrive and lovers love for life.
