I started Sober October early and have hit the 1 week milestone. Last night and today I had really bad anxiety and rumination, which was mainly focused on things at work that are not in my control. I’m feeling much better now after going for a walk with the dog and cleaning as distraction but feel like it may creep back in. I’m curious if anyone has tips on how to manage it?
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meditation/breathing exercises have helped me a lot with learning to allow a thoughts/feelings to pass through my mind easier than before as opposed to wrestling with it all day. talking to a friend about what i’m thinking/feeling has also been helpful, and seeing how they’re doing helps get me out of my head a lot. diving into a good book. sometimes simply mentally listing off all the colors in front of me on a walk helps. as you mentioned walking/cleaning are also big ones for me. i keep a journal too, and sometimes writing it down helps to calm the storm.
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I struggle with this quite a bit aswell. Since getting sober meditation and breathing especially for panic attacks. And I’ve been using the elastic band method for years. This video explains it well, not that it’s complicated 
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You control the things you can, take a pass on the rest.
It takes practice, but work on focusing on your “now”. Now is critical as it is this very moment and you have every opportunity to make your now whatever you want it to be. What happened in the past is over and done with nothing you can do to change it so why ruminate over it. This moment now is where you get to choose and shape your sober future so ruminate on what you want out of your new sober life.
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