Your wedding day is here. Now you have to survive it. If the idea of walking down the aisle makes you want to run, our tips will help you manage your anxiety.
You’ve finally done it. The guests are in their seats, the flowers are in place, and the ringbearer has stopped squirming long enough to wear his suit. Now all that’s left is to walk down the aisle.
And that’s the moment your anxiety explodes.
“Till death do us part” is no longer a rehearsal, and those 20 steps across the room can feel like 20 miles. If this sounds like you, then take a deep breath, bride-to-be. Our tips for managing anxiety when you’re walking down the aislewill help you take the most important walk of your life.
Communicate
Most likely, your anxiety will have already been building from the moment you woke up. While putting on a brave face for your friends and relatives can feel noble, it won’t help you when you walk down the aisle.
Pick a few trusted people to confide your feelings to, like your maid of honor and your fiancé. Simply talking about your fears can lessen their hold on you, and your loved ones can help you with coping strategies.
Use Physical Stress-Busting Strategies
As much as anxiety is a mental game, it impacts us physically, too. So, physical coping strategies can help give you the upper hand over your fears. Try these tactics when you feel your anxiety climbing:
- Practice deep breathing
- Take a short walk
- Slowly count backward from 10
- Recite a few lines from something you have memorized, such as a poem or the Pledge of Allegiance
- Chew some gum (just be sure to spit it out before you start walking)
CBD is also known to help lessen stress and anxiety, as well as reduce chronic pain that you may develop from holding tension in your muscles.
Stay Grounded
Anxiety is like a sprint through a hall of mirrors. It takes reality and twists it into dozens of frightening and unrealistic scenarios that feel real. It helps to stop and remind yourself what is true about your wedding when these thoughts come to mind.
A few thoughts you may want to be intentional about thinking include:
- “My fiancé does love me, and I know it because…”
- “My friends and family are here to support me, not criticize me.”
- “The ceremony will go just fine.”
- “The wedding only lasts an hour or so, then it’s over.”
- “The ceremony is not as important as the marriage.”
If you can’t think of any of these statements, just try saying out loud to yourself a few times, “I will survive my wedding ceremony.”
Find Friendly Places To Look
Sometimes, the trick to managing your anxiety when walking down the aisleis just to have a plan. This plan doesn’t have to be elaborate. Simply knowing where you’re going to focus your eyes can help.
Try locking eyes with your fiancé, the maid of honor, or the person presiding over the wedding if you know them. Before you know it, you’ll have finished the hard part and can focus on getting hitched.
Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash
