Anxiety is like static -- a bunch of jumbled up pictures and sounds that may be coherent when separate, are an unintelligible mess of chaos in your brain. Anxiety is an overwhelming feeling that something bad is about to happen, has already happened, or is happening but you can't decipher which is the correct tense. Anxiety is wishing it would end but not being able to describe exactly what "it" is. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in Americans, affecting 18 percent of the population 18 and over. That's approximately 40 million men and women who go through these things every single day. Only one third of those people actually seek treatment or help from their disorder. For everyone else who maybe feels like, "It's not that serious," or. "I can handle this without medicine" there are a couple of things that you can do to push past whatever variation of anxiety you suffer from.
Talk to someone. This is probably the most basic piece of advice but it's basic because it actually does work. If you're having anxious thoughts and you can't talk yourself out of it, maybe you need someone else to do that for you. Even though anxiety is a feeling that can't necessarily be put into words, just trying to search for those words out loud to someone else might be therapeutic for you.
Write it out. This especially works for me. I've never quite been able to put emotions into words until I pick up a pen or pencil and lay it down on a piece of paper. You'd be surprised how just writing about something can organize your thoughts and make them coherent. Save these random pieces of paper or designate an anxiety notebook. Go back and reread whatever you wrote whenever you're feeling anxious again. Or throw away that piece of paper and hide the notebook to tell your brain you're not going to go back to that place. Whatever works for you.
Go to the gym. Working out can be beneficial in a number of ways. Sweating and working out produces endorphins that can definitely make you happier. Another benefit of working out is that you get to lose yourself on the treadmill or elliptical. Focus on putting one foot in front of the other and get out of your head. Before you know it, you might be able to completely forget about whatever it is that was making you feel anxious in the first place.
Just breathe. Maybe none of these tricks works for you. Maybe all of them do. No matter what you do, just breathe. Take a deep breath in through your nose and release it through your mouth. Do this over and over. This can calm you and relax you. It definitely won't completely eliminate your anxious thoughts but it can potentially alleviate them so they're not as overwhelming.
I'm not a doctor by any means. These are just some of the things that have worked for me in dealing with anxiety. If you feel that you've tried everything but nothing is working and your anxiety is beginning to take over your life, seek help from a medical professional. Because it's so hard to explain and there are so many variations of anxiety, you may just feel like you're being dramatic but it is a real thing and it doesn't hurt to try to seek help. Just know that you are not alone and there are ways to overcome anxiety.
