The ‘5–4–3–2–1’ Coping Trick to Ease Anxiety
Give yourself five minutes with this mindfulness technique to be aware of your reality and come back to it
Anxiety usually comes at the worse times and we need it to go away as soon as we can, but it’s hard to know when that feeling of concern will stop, and when you’ll be able to breathe again.
It’s much more difficult to try and stop it yourself: it sometimes becomes impossible. The only solution is to wait for anxiety to go away.
But what if, instead of worrying about what we’re feeling and strive on making it go away; why don’t we make ourselves aware of our reality to calm us down?
How this grounding technique works
Anxiety is different for everyone and it takes plenty of forms. Sudden nervousness, lack of breath, or just an overwhelming feeling of concern. Sometimes, it’s just the feeling that you’re worrying about everything. Did I leave the TV on? Did I close the door on my way out? Or perhaps, worrying about stuff you can’t even control.
Whether you’re having a full-on anxiety attack or have lots of work to do and don’t know where to even start, anxiety has one thing in common in whatever state it’s found: it takes us out of reality, of the present.
While our minds are what’s taking us out of the real world by wandering off or worrying about millions of stuff, our body is still present here, on earth. You’re still alive and breathing. By paying attention to our surroundings through our five senses, we get a much better sense of reality and our place in it, making ourselves present, visible, and knowing we’re there.
The method
When using this countdown to get back on track, we rely on our five senses — sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.
There’s more to it than counting down from 5. The trick is to, instead of focusing on yourself and what you’re feeling, focus on your surroundings and environment. Here’s how:
5. Sight: look around you for five things that you’re able to see
4. Sound: identify four things you can hear
3. Touch: acknowledge three things that you’re able to feel (it could be from touching the ground to feeling your clothes on your skin)
2. Smell: identify two things that you can smell
- Taste: notice one thing that you taste
It can be repeated as many times as necessary until you feel like you can take on with whatever you were doing. Take your time and try to not rush into it; it will, eventually, get better.
The mindfulness of it all
Mindfulness:
“A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”
This technique relies heavily on mindfulness and its basis. We’re trying to achieve an optimal mental state in which we find ourselves calm and peaceful after feeling anxious.
We do this by the main process described in mindfulness, which says to acknowledge one’s thoughts and sensations. In this case, we’re relying on sensorial awareness.
Ellen Hendriksen, a professional clinical psychologist, in Vice:
“Bringing our attention to our senses grounds us in the present and counting the items interrupts the spinning of our thoughts”
Some tips to make it easier for you
- If you can, try to say it out loud. Every sound you hear, everything you feel, what you’re seeing, etc.
- Keep your eyes open. This way, you’ll get a much easier approach to everything that is around you and you’ll be more aware of yourself.
- Get a calm place where you can be alone.
