Coping with Anxiety

 

 Coping with Anxiety

Anxiety is normal. We all have  feelings of being tense, anxious and nervousness.

Divorce, loss of a job, terrorism,  etc can all cause us to feel anxious. A lot of times we have no control over the  source of our anxiety but the good news is we do have some control on how we  cope.

 Here are  13 ways to cope with  anxiety

 1. Challenge the negative thoughts by  asking yourself:

Am I having a productive  thought?

Is my fear/anxiety  realistic?

Is my thought  irrational?

2. Relaxation techniques – 1-2-3  Breathe!

Breath in for a count of  3

Hold for a count of  3

Exhale for a count of  3

Do this a few times and you will feel  your physical symptoms relax.

 3. Eliminate anxiety inducing foods –  yes! It’s true there are foods that induce anxiety such as caffeine, sugar and  alcohol.

 4. Exercise – all we need to do to  reduce stress and feel calmer is to walking four times a week for 20-30 minutes  and we can get the boost of happiness from our endorphins while reducing our  stress hormones.

 5. Meditation – for some this sounds  intimidating but make it simple. You can listen to a guided meditation and feel  the results of reduced stress, peace and calm. Sit outside in nature and you  naturally distress and feel calm.

 6. journal writing in an effective  tool to get your feelings out.

 7. Natural remedies such as Chamomile  tea or ginseng tea reduce stress and give a calming effect. Chamomile tea is  great right before bed to help you relax.

 8. Emotional detox – remove the  toxic/negative people from your life. We can get stressed out/anxious when we  surround ourselves with toxic people.   Moods and emotions are contagious!

 9. Cope with painful  memories:

Talk or write it  out

Grieve the  memory/loss

Accept what  happened

Consider what you have learned from  the event/situation.

 10. if a situation causes anxiety and  you are aware of this then prepare, practice and prepare  more.

 11. Visualize your  success

 12. Work on your overall health and  happiness – the more optimistic you are, the more resilient you  are.

 13. Always remember every situation  is temporary. When you are feeling down remember you will rise again. When your  up, remember to enjoy the moment while its there.