1. Drink More Water
Drinking enough water is the single most important thing a person can do for their health. Dehydration is the culprit for many physical, mental, and emotional issues. Drink half of your body weight in ounces each day at the very least. However, if you drink coffee, or other caffeine or sugar drinks, then you need to drink more than that. Make it more appealing by putting cucumber and fruit slices in a pitcher of water for flavor. Water eliminates toxins, and will jump start your digestion giving your mind something else to work on. Drinking more water can have a really great effect on your overall mentality.
2. Meditation
If this is something you have never done, do not be intimidated. I am not the best at sitting still, but even ten minutes being quiet with myself in the morning changes my whole outlook. Spend at least ten minutes a day sitting alone in a peaceful place just getting quiet with yourself. If this is difficult, then use an app or go online and download a mindfulness meditation that you follow along with. A really simple way to begin a stillness practice is to just sit and breathe in for 5 seconds, and breathe out for 5 seconds. You can do that for the whole ten minutes so long as you are trying to train your mind to be calm.
3. Gratitude
Begin each day by finding two things that you are grateful for, and write them down on a piece of paper and put in a jar. At the end of every month you can read all of the papers, and then put them into a basket to collect all year. Then at the end of the year, you can read all twelve months. This practice will get you into the habit of being grateful. The more we express gratitude, the more we train our minds to focus on the positive. Focusing on what is right with your life will make you happier. Anxiety is usually not present when you are happy.
4. Move More
You do not have to start working out for thirty minutes a day. If you are not very active, then begin by doing 5 minutes a day. You can do push-ups, or sit-ups, or an elliptical. Just do 5 minutes every day for thirty days. Then at the end of thirty days, add another 5 minutes a day. Make this a gradual increase. The idea is to make it a habit, and to gradually increase when you are ready. The habit is what will bring lasting change.
5. Visualize
Spend ten minutes a day visualizing exactly how you want your life to look. Imagine what you would look like, who you would be around, what goals you would have accomplished, and how your house looks inside and out. Most importantly step into the person you are in your vision, and feel what it feels like to have everything exactly the way you want it to be.
6. Change Your State
Check how you feel periodically throughout the day, and take a personal inventory on what you are doing with your body. If you are slouching, then sit up straight. If you are frowning, then smile really big. If you are angry, then laugh for no reason. Changing your body will change your state, and when you change your state you change your emotions. Emotions are energy-in-motion. Making a silly face could make you forget whatever is causing anxiety, and break the cycle.
7. Stretch
Spend a couple of minutes a day stretching your back, neck, shoulders, legs, and breathing deeply while you do it. Stretching releases all the built up tension that accrues from having anxiety. The body and mind are connected. If the mind is in knots, then so is the body.
8. Hot Bath
Take a hot bath with Epsom salt, and a few drops of lavender essential oil. This will ease away anxiety, and is a perfect time to do your ten minutes of visualization. Epsom salt will pull toxins out of your body through your skin, and that will also relieve tension.
9. Tapping
Tapping is also known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). It consists of you ‘tapping’ specific points on your body while saying things aloud. Tapping is a great way to interrupt the energy patterns that are flowing through your body, and also helps by focusing your mind on what you’re doing. Go on YouTube and look up tapping videos that are for anxiety relief. Keep searching till you find one that works for you.
10. Nutrition
Food is medicine, or it can be poison. Take an inventory of everything you eat for a week, and then see what you eat the most. If you are eating lots of processed foods with sugar in them, then you will probably feel it in your mood. Start by making healthier choices, until you can get to healthy. Begin by going completely organic. That will make a big change in how you feel. I still eat ice cream, but only if it is organic ice cream. It really does make a difference.
These are all things that you probably already know, but start by making one of them a habit today. Then in thirty days add another one to your daily habit. Before you know it, you will be living with a lot less anxiety.
