Here are a few quick tips for improving skills to cope with anxiety:
The first step for learning to cope with anxiety is raising your awareness to the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing. Be present. Notice.
When you feel anxious, your body also becomes physically distressed. You carry tension in various parts of your body. Notice the locations of the tension in your body. Relax these areas. Did you know that your anxiety cannot coexist in a relaxed body? Next, notice your thoughts. What conversations are going on in your head? Is it positive ...or super critical? A helpful exercise could be noting the conversations that go on in your head and journaling what you say to yourself regularly. Are these rational thoughts or irrational thoughts? In other words, are these fear/worry thoughts likely to happen, or are you allowing worst possible scenarios to run through your mind regularly? With practice and conscious attention, you can learn to choose your thoughts and reduce focus on thoughts that do not serve you.
Another skill for learning to cope with anxiety can be through movement. Take a walk or a run. Do some stretches. Yoga has been shown to be one of many very effective ways to lower both stress and anxiety. That is because you are focusing on controlling breathing with stretching. Focusing on your breathing helps you to be present in the moment. Stretching helps with relaxing your muscles with controlled tensing and releasing of different muscle groups.
Get out into nature or a natural surrounding. Nature feeds our soul, that inner part of our being where we can disconnect from artificial lights, devices that suck up our attention... and just be. Walk barefoot on the earth, take a hike, garden, or ... plant a tree. These are simple activities that can be used to reconnect back to our natural surroundings.
These are just a few tips for learning to manage anxiety in a healthy manner. However, when anxiety starts taking over your life where you find yourself living on a smaller or smaller scale to avoid possible triggers for anxiety attacks, it may be time to seek professional help. You deserve to live free from constant worry and fears. Book a free consultation to find out if taking the next step into anxiety management counseling is right for you at this time.
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