When you’re plagued by anxiety, every moment feels like a struggle. You become hyper-aware of your own thoughts and the sounds around you, leading to a state of panic that never seems to end. The problem with managing anxiety is that it’s an endless battle. Even when you feel as if you have it all under control, it can creep up on you at any moment. The best way to manage anxiety is not to let it get the better of you in the first place. However, once the beast has made its presence known, there are some helpful tips and tricks for dealing with it and keeping those anxious thoughts at bay. These six strategies will help you manage your anxiety so that it doesn’t manage you:
Change your thoughts
When you feel the first signs of anxiety, do not ignore them. This can be so hard to do, but it’s important that you don’t try to push the feelings away. Instead, try to actively change the way you view your thoughts. If you find yourself having obsessive negative thoughts, try to flip them. For example, if you have a thought that you are going to have a panic attack and embarrass yourself, try to flip this around and tell yourself that you have this under control and will be fine. Changing your thoughts can be very challenging, but it’s important that you do so. Doing this will help you stop your anxiety in its tracks before it becomes too much to handle.
Stay physically healthy
When you’re anxious, it can be tempting to withdraw from the world and hide in your bedroom. However, this can end up only exacerbating your anxiety. Instead, try to stay socially active and engage with the world. This can be challenging if you are feeling particularly anxious on a given day. However, it can also be an excellent way of managing your anxiety. In addition to staying socially active, try to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly. This can help you combat anxiety and depression by regulating your serotonin levels, which can become unbalanced when you’re plagued by anxiety. Gentle forms of exercise such as yoga and tai chi can also help you manage anxiety by relaxing your body and clearing your mind.
Practice mindfulness and self-care
When you’re feeling anxious, it can be easy to fall into a cycle of negative thoughts. You may start to believe that you are flawed and unworthy of love, or that you are a failure and will never reach your goals. This can only exacerbate your anxiety and make it even harder to escape the cycle. In order to escape this cycle, you must first recognize that you are having these thoughts. Once you have identified these thoughts, actively change them. Having a few tricks up your sleeve can also help you stay mindful and actively change your thoughts. For example, you can try to actively focus on your breathing. This can help you stay present and combat any negative thoughts that you may be having.
Don’t avoid the things that trigger your anxiety
While you shouldn’t push yourself too hard and overwhelm yourself, you also shouldn’t hide from your fears. Anxiety can be a very manipulative beast that feeds off your avoidance of certain places, people, or situations. When you avoid these things and try to protect yourself from your own fears, you are actually doing more harm than good. Instead, try to face these fears head on and actively engage with the things that trigger your anxiety. This can be challenging, but it’s an excellent way of managing your anxiety. When you force yourself to engage with these situations, you can begin to desensitize yourself to the anxiety triggers and therefore feel a little less anxious when you are around them.
Learn how to manage your panic attacks
Panic attacks are often triggered by anxiety, but the two are not the same. If you are experiencing panic attacks, you can use these techniques to help manage them. Panic attacks often begin with a feeling of impending doom. This is when your body is flooded with adrenaline, causing your heart rate to skyrocket, your skin to sweat, and your palms to become clammy. This can lead to a very scary situation that can be hard to get out of. However, with practice and patience, you can learn how to manage your panic attacks and avoid them altogether. One of the best ways to stop a panic attack in its tracks is to try and identify your triggers. This can allow you to take action before you enter into an attack and get yourself out of it.
Conclusion
Managing your anxiety can be a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. By following these tips and tricks, you can take control of your anxiety and stop it from controlling your life. Anxiety can be a very scary thing to deal with, and it can be easy to become overwhelmed by it. However, with these strategies, you can take back control of your life from anxiety and fight it from becoming debilitating.