During my first post on the Big Brain Blog I wrote briefly about the chronic anxiety I have been managing throughout my life. Today I'd like to open up a little more about how anxiety shows up for me and share a tool for self regulation that I find effective for restoring mental harmony.
It seems these days that everyone struggles with anxiety to some extent. But what is anxiety really? And why are some people more prone to dealing with it than others?
Anxiety is most often defined as fear or worry about an uncertain future. For myself I would add that anxiety comes up when I feel regretful about a choice that I made in the past that cannot be undone or fixed. Visceral feelings of panic set in, and the disease of over thought clouds the mind with a repetitive streaming of an irrational concern.
Generally we understand that anxiety is not in itself a bad thing. Actually, anxiety is a trait we all inherited a survival mechanism. When our minds perceive a threat, our brains release adrenaline from our adrenal glands as a protective measure to help insure our ability to cope with adversity. The influx of adrenaline sets off a series of physical responses including increased heart rate and increased blood circulation. Many of the body's systems are affected by this surge of adrenaline including the nervous and digestive systems. Essentially, the body goes into an elevated state of alertness in preparation muscle exertion in the form of fight or flight which can perpetuate a number of symptoms ranging from from labored breathing, to troubled sleeping, to indigestion and more.
From neuroscience we understand that our brains do not distinguish a difference between thoughts and feelings. That is to say that in the landscape of our minds, thoughts and feelings are intertwined and our brains do not separate cognition and emotion.
So whether we are truly faced with adversity or if we are merely projecting fear, our brains will send the same signal (adrenaline) to the body as a protective mechanism, even if the safety of the body isn't truly being threatened.
We all share this survival trait and while for some of us anxiety emerges only when under real threat, there are many of us who, for whatever reason, are more predisposed to have disordered anxiety.
As with most traits, disorders, and diseases, the cause or reason why some people experience high levels of debilitating anxiety while others walk around cool as cucumbers is for the most part unknown. Psychologists understand that a combination of nature and nurture play a role in determining how much anxiety presents itself in an individual. Anxiety disorders may be genetically inherited or they may be the result of lived traumatic experiences.
Either way, anxiety is a trauma response and given what we are starting to understand about ancestral trauma it makes sense to me that if our biological ancestors lived through highly traumatic events, the processing of that trauma can get stored in the DNA and present itself as an anxiety disorder in future generations.
I would classify my own anxiety disorder as somewhere in the mid-range of the spectrum. While I have experienced panic attacks that have brought about hyperventilation and even fainting at times, for the most part I am able to self-regulate my symptoms and live a very normal life.
When elevated, my anxiety has taken on many physiological forms. I have experienced feelings of tightness in my chest, indigestion and GI issues, false sense of hunger or anxious eating tendencies, insomnia, and shaking or jittering hands and fingers just to name a few.
What feels the worst for me (worse than any physical symptoms) is when my mind is all consumed by over analyzing the past or projecting fear and worry onto the unknown future so much that it takes my completely out of the present moment of life. This mind chatter can make me feel hopeless, scared, and so down on myself that I either freeze and try to numb myself or, if I am triggered I succumb to regressive temper tantrum like behaviors (crying, screaming, throwing things) because being in my brain with all those hopeless and fearful thoughts feels so unsafe.
Over the years, I have adopted several tools that I have found to be tremendously helpful in calming my mind and bringing my nervous system back to homeostasis. Deep breathing, walking in nature, and journaling are all great mindfulness practices that can help to regulate the nervous system and I use these tools often.
But I have found that occupying my hands with the simple craft of hand stitching or embroidery has been one of the most effective ways to regulate my emotions and attention, quiet the mind chatter, and bring me into the present moment.
I think for me, elevated anxiety correlates to feeling a lack of control. When there is a plan, a schedule, and a certain level of predictability I feel safe. But when faced with something uncertain fear, doubt, and worry can overwhelm me. To calm this worry and arrive in the present moment I have found that focusing my attention on the simple task of embroidering helps to alleviate the feelings of fear and doubt.
When in an elevated state of anxiety, cognitive function is diminished. In other words, it can be challenging or even impossible to use reason or logic to make a decision or solve a problem when anxiety is high. However, when I am using my hands in a predictable patterned way, stitch by stitch, my brain begins to feel safe again on a subconscious level. The repetitiveness of the stitching coupled with the visual cue of the pattern taking shape allows my brain to shift out of fear and into trust. In this way I am able to create order out of chaos and show myself that I am not actually being threatened. Then, my conscious mind can start to filter through what's real and what's fake allowing the anxiety to begin to melt away.
It turns out that there have been a number of studies examining the effectiveness of crafting for reducing anxiety and promoting mental wellness. Research shows that engaging in handicrafts such as knitting, crocheting, basket weaving, and sewing are all effective ways of combating stress, and regulating the nervous system.
I found this article by the Crafts Council to be a good source of information. Links to several peer reviewed studies providing evidence of the positive effects of crafting on mental and cognitive health and are provided throughout the text for anyone interested in learning more.
So what does any of this have to do with Amanitas? I mean, I could write a whole other blog about how Amanita Muscaria mushrooms are effective for reducing anxiety and I will write that story another time. But today I am focusing on how partaking in handicrafts effectively reduces stress and supports mental wellness.
Some of you may have seen the Amanita Muscaria mushroom lady t-shirts
that Omar has been rocking lately. Hand stitching these mushroom ladys was for me a medicinal act that didn't require ingesting any hallucinogens.
Throughout this past year I have received countless compliments and a number of requests for hand stitched mushroom t-shirts. So today I am officially offering
It has taken me awhile to put this offering out there...I think my anxiety has been preventing me from figuring out how to make this offering public. The truth is, I would love to make hand embroidered mushroom swag for anyone who wants it but I also want to work in a way that is sustainable for myself and for the planet. Meaning that I don't want to buy a bunch of blank t-shirts and spend countless hours embroidering mushrooms on them only to have no one purchase them from me. I understand that many makers work that way but for me I prefer to make unique pieces for individuals who will truly cherish them.
So here is what I'm offering:
Now on our product page you may purchase a custom order consultation for $20.
Once payment is made I will send you an email to open up a conversation about your custom design. The $20 consultation fee will count towards the final cost of your design. We will work together to select the design image, the sizing, the colors, and the material. I am happy to embroider mushroom art on almost any
type of fabric.
And while my classic designs are the Amanita ladies pictured here I am happy to embroider other mushrooms or elements of your choosing.
In an effort to make this offering accessible I am only charging $10/hour for hands-on-time. Customers are also responsible for paying for the cost of material (ie. if you'd like a design to be embroidered on a new t-shirt costing $40, you will be responsible for the t-shirt cost plus the cost of my hands-on-time).
For reference, the mushroom lady pictured here is approximately 4"x6" large, took 5 hours to embroider, and was stitched onto a $40 recycled cotton t-shirt from Everybody. World.
cost of hands-on-time + cost of material + cost of shipping = total cost
$50 + $40 + 0 = $90
Hand embroidered mushroom swag makes for a truly special and unique gift for any occasion. You can rest assured the piece was made with lots of love. And, by purchasing a custom piece through me you'll be helping me to alleviate my anxiety one stitch at a time.
Oh! And I might as well mention that I have also put our Moms in Support of Microdosing t-shirts for sale on our products page as well. We only have a few left so get 'em while they're here!
Thanks for supporting my creative efforts :)
As always, Be Well and Stay Curious!
With so much love and gratitude from,
Chrissy Dasco-Uribe
Co-Founder/CEO
Thanks for sharing your journey and crafts! This blog was very useful.
Great article! So important to be reminded that we all have different tools in our tool box that we can utilize to help manage stressors. Your talents are many!!