We all know that anxiety can sometimes get the best of us. I know I can relate this to myself tremendously since I’ve battled with anxiety as long as I can remember. Not everyone shares the same feeling of having anxiety because we are human and we are all different. With that being said, obviously these tips to help you are not guaranteed to work. It takes 21 days to form a habit. Just because one technique didn’t work for you once doesn’t mean it won’t work at all. Believe me, you can’t throw down the idea unless you’ve tried it.
Talk to someone - This one I can’t stress enough. Sometimes we find that when we are in the stage of feeling anxious we are not able to talk ourselves down to feeling calm. Having a person that you can try and just express yourself to with little to no answers back is the best. The reason behind this is because you are releasing your thoughts and getting them out of your body versus letting them sit there and have you dwell on them. Usually a good friend, family member, or significant other works better. If none of those cut it try a pet, they sometimes don’t say too much.
Deep breathing - Clearly breathing is super important in our everyday life. But I know that one of the more common signs of being in the moment of anxiety is your chest getting tight and feeling like you can’t breathe. Taking a good solid five minutes with sitting up straight, breathing in deep through your nose, and releasing through your mouth saying “everything is okay” will slowing bring down your heart rate. Your mind will now be focusing on breathing and not on what was bothering you before.
Ice cubes - This one may seem a little odd and you obviously can’t do it if you don't have ice cubes, but it's a really good one to get your mind to focus on something else. This one is very simple. Take two ice cubes and place them in each of your palms and squeeze. Yes your hand is now freezing and you probably have water all over the place, but what were you getting anxious about? Yeah I don’t know either, I forgot. That is the plan.
Alphabet Opposite - We’ve all tried writing with the hand that we don’t usually write with, am I correct? How focused would you be if you were trying to write the alphabet backwards in your opposite hand. Crazy right? I enjoy this one because it’s something you can do almost anywhere.
Color - Everywhere has those “adult coloring books.” Let me tell you, if you don’t have one by now you are missing out. When I’m feeling anxious and even when I’m getting stressed out, I love to color. This one works well because you are focusing on the detail of coloring, aking sure you are in the lines, colors are matching, and clearly pretty. This could go on for hours.
Like I stated before, these are not guaranteed to work since everyone is different, but it’s worth a shot if right now you feel like you have no help. Anxiety has been a pain in my butt for a while now and I’m finally glad to say that I’ve found ways to put it in its place. I hope you find at least one of these techniques helpful as they were for me.
