Four Helpful Tips on Managing Anxiety

You might be having symptoms of anxiety without even knowing it. Family pressures, professional life, financial woes, and relationship issues all add to our daily stress.  Anxiety is your body’s natural response to these everyday life stresses. Worrying about the future or not being able to let go of the past, increase our anxiety. You will start feeling frustrated, cynical, anti-social, and miserable.

If left unmanaged, anxiety can manifest in debilitating depression. Anxiety is in itself a medical disorder and a much more manageable one than depression. The condition must be identified and controlled at the right time to avoid mental breakdowns and severe depression.

Listed below are the four helpful tips on managing anxiety. These tips are proven to calm the mind and lessen stress for you to live a happy anxious-free lifestyle.

Slow Down and Take a Deep Breath

When your heart starts racing, and you feel like you are going into a state of panic, take a few deep breaths. A simple act of taking a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds and exhaling will immediately calm you down.

Deep diaphragmatic breathing triggers an instant body relaxation response and is one of the best anxiety-reducing techniques.

According to clinical psychologist Marla W. Deible, deep breathing helps our body turn off the flight-or-fight response and offer a more relaxed, thoughtful response. Simply take ten easy breaths, and keep saying ‘relax’ to let go of unwanted thoughts, rational actions, and negative emotions. When you inhale, focus on relaxing and grounding yourself. When you exhale, focus on releasing tension and stresses.

Re-evaluate Your Thoughts

When you are feeling stressed, you should also consider making sense of what you are feeling. Grounding yourself and thinking objectively is a great way to distance yourself from feelings of anxiousness.

Ever heard the saying, “Making a mountain out of an ants’ nest”? This is usually what we do whenever we are under massive amounts of stress. Something small is turned into something massive because we are making it more significant in our heads than what it really is.

Ask yourself some of the following questions: Is this issue as big as I’m making it? Is it realistic? How do I really feel about it? What can I do to solve the problem? Is this issue solvable or not?

Re-evaluating your thoughts and putting your situation in perspective is an excellent way of coping. Talking to someone you trust and getting their view can also help to see things more clearly.

Accept and Embrace

A great quote that can always be referred to whenever you feel anxious about a situation is, “Change what you can and accept what you can’t.”

Anxiety can be linked to situations, relationships, and moments that you can’t do anything about. You may feel frustrated about not having enough time in a day or waiting for your salary, and even not receiving a phone call from a loved one. These are all situations that we can’t do anything about.

Accept these kinds of situations as part of daily life. You can’t rush certain things, and there are only 24 hours in a day. Take action and change the things that you can, but accept the things that you have no control over.

Instead of stressing about life and all its challenges embrace the moments that bring you joy and even those that bring you sorrow. All levels of our lives, even the less pleasant ones, add depth and knowledge.

Change Focus and Switch Off

Manage your anxiety by altering your focus. You will find that problems do tend to become bigger once we are always focused on them.

Give your mind a break and focus on something else. Preferably something you enjoy doing. Distract yourself by engaging in exciting conversations or activities.

Obsessing over a relationship that is already broken, the bills piling up or your pet’s health will harm your mental health. Instead of pondering on these things, figure out whether you can do something about, if not – enjoy the moment you are in now.

Managing anxiety is all about taking control of your thoughts. You must evaluate what you are feeling and what is causing you to feel so stressed. Don’t give in to negative thoughts and be aware of your mental state. Try the above four tips to cope better with anxiety, and make sure to seek professional help when you feel like your anxiety is getting out of control.