Did you know that anxiety is the most common mental illness in the U.S. and the world? Yep, in fact, anxiety affects 40 million adults in the United States (19.1%)1 and 301 million worldwide.2 So, if you’re struggling, you’re definitely not alone.
And the biggest thing is, you don’t have to do it alone. Anxiety is hard enough; we don’t want you to make it more difficult by trying to figure it out by yourself.
Because of that, we highly encourage you to invite someone into your battle and journey as you work through anxiety in your life. We also want to help support you by offering 4 tips to cope.
Two important reminders before we dive in. One, many things can cause and create anxiety in your life. Some of these might help give you an idea if you’re unsure. Second, there are a lot of different subsets under the overall anxiety umbrella such as PTSD, OCD, and social anxiety. Each may need its own specific set of tools as well, but these 4 we provide should still help you regardless of what type of anxiety you struggle with.
Okay, let’s dive in!
Tip #1: Grounding Yourself
Grounding yourself helps bring you, and more importantly, your mind, back to the present moment. Think of it like this. When anxiety appears, it’s like a violent windstorm and you are the branches and leaves of a tree being blown and whipped around. Grounding essentially gets you into the roots of the tree, dug deep as a sturdy base, so that you remain safe and secure. Of course, these techniques won’t prevent anxiety, but they will offer opportunities for you to come back to the present and release your racing brain.
How does it help? Grounding first gets you out of your fight-or-flight response and into your parasympathetic nervous system which helps you calm down and relax. Second, it offers you a healthy mental distraction. Have you ever noticed that when you give your anxious thoughts more attention, the anxiety grows bigger and more overwhelming? Well, grounding lets your mind focus more on non-threatening thoughts rather than the thoughts that are fueling your anxiety.3
Here are some examples of grounding techniques:
- Deep box breathing: breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 1 second, breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 1 second. Repeat for 1-3 minutes.
- 5-4-3-2-1 mental list: name 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste in the space around you.
- Rainbow list: similar to above, go through the rainbow and find everything in that color around you. So note everything that’s red, then orange, yellow, etc.
- Move your body or do a body scan: a body scan starts at your toes and moves up your body to notice the sensations in each part, taking your time to actively relax each muscle as you pass it mentally.
- Physical sensations: things like a cold shower or splashing cold water on your face, holding an ice cube, eating sour candy, etc. gets you out of your mind and into your body.
- Do something to distract your mind: do a puzzle, solve a math problem, make a list of your favorite foods or girls' names that start with a ‘T’, etc.
Tip #2: Take Care of Yourself
This tip is more so for everyday living rather than in the moment. (Although, the other 3 tips could be used routinely rather than momentarily as well.) Taking care of yourself can help keep anxiety at bay or, at the very least, make it easier to cope when it does arise.
- Physical health – find movement you enjoy, eat regularly, hydrate, make sleep a priority
- Mental health – journal, take medicine or see a therapist if needed, spend time being creative, avoid triggers
- Spiritual health – pray or read the Bible, meditate, spend time in nature, do things that make your soul happy and light up
Please note, if doing any of these things is difficult because of your mental health, know that you are not a failure nor hurting yourself/your health. We know it’s tough so maybe pick one thing to focus on or ask that person you invited onto your journey to help you figure out a way to work through these things. Whatever you’re able to do, whether 10% or 100% is enough. You are enough!
Tip #3: Get Your Thoughts Out
Thoughts in your head fuel the anxiety like kindling on a fire. Therefore, getting them out of your head—either by talking or writing—makes a big difference. Removing thoughts from your head can also help you spot triggers, see patterns emerge, and find solutions to an anxiety-inducing problem you’re facing.
Journaling
One great way to get your thoughts out is to journal. Journaling is powerful because it’s almost like an active release of the thoughts from your mind through your hand, out your pen or pencil, and onto the paper. You can either use prompts or freewrite. If you feel lost, just start writing and you’ll be surprised by the things that tend to come up and spill out.
You can write how you’re feeling, the racing thoughts or repetitive words in your brain, or what happened that day. Your journal entry doesn't have to be grammatically correct or complete sentences or even make sense. Even if you begin with “I don’t know where to begin. Anxiety. Thoughts swirling.” That’s something and it’s a start!
Talk to Someone
A second way to get your thoughts out is by talking to someone. Whether you talk instead of journaling to clear your mind or you tell someone about what you journaled, talking it out is hugely beneficial. Benefits include but are not limited to: having someone to listen to you, encourage and support you, a person to offer advice or solutions if you want and just knowing someone cares. Trust us, knowing you aren’t the only person carrying your burdens can provide a huge sigh of relief when struggling with anxiety.
There are a lot of different people you could talk to, so find someone you can trust and feel safe and comfortable opening up to. This could be a friend, family member, partner, or roommate. Or, it could be a mentor, therapist, pastor at a church, or support group.
If you don't have anyone or need help with where to start, let us help. We connect thousands of people who are struggling with anxiety and mental health to caring individuals who are ready and willing to listen, support you, and be there for you through these challenging times. You can click here at any time to get started.
Tip #4: Challenge Your Anxiety
Anxiety is challenging, there’s no denying that…but that doesn’t mean you can’t challenge your anxiety right back. Confront your negative thoughts and what-ifs—instead of ‘what if it all goes wrong?’, ‘what if I mess up?’, or ‘what if I don’t get the job?’, try thinking “well what if it all goes right, what if I learn something new, and what if I do get the job?” instead.
Challenge any negative self-talk and replace it with compassion and kindness. Instead of calling yourself a failure, try reminding yourself that you’re human and you’re allowed to make mistakes. Lastly, test the anxious thought or fear to see if it’s rooted in truth/reality or rather some scary scenario anxiety created. For example, thinking no one will ever like you is an unlikely truth. Most likely, it’s an exaggeration, by anxiety, of a feeling of rejection in the here and now. But it’s not true, you are likable.
Confronting your anxious thoughts and challenging your anxiety isn’t always, or even often, easy, but it’ll be so worth it. As Aristotle said, “An individual develops courage by doing courageous acts”. By practicing challenging your anxiety, you’re building the courage to face it and your fears more often going forward. But since it’s not easy, give yourself time and space to practice.
Conclusion
Living with anxiety can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to mean your life is over. We hope these 4 tips offer some new information, insight, and ideas for you to implement so that you can learn to cope with and combat anxiety. You’re not alone and you can do this—we believe in you!
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