Anxiety is something that everyone goes through at some point in their lives. It's our body's natural reaction to stress or uncertainty about the future. Anxiety is natural in modest doses and might encourage you to work harder. However, it becomes a concern when it gets severe and incapacitating.
What you need to understand is that anxiety is fear, and anxious thoughts are your body's attempt to protect you from harm. Instead of berating yourself for having anxiety, here are some strategies for dealing with the symptoms.
* Meditate- Learn to meditate. This will help you focus on managing your thoughts and allow them to flow instead of letting the anxious thoughts hold you hostage.
* Ground Yourself- This may be done by doing something as simple as standing up and marching on the spot or swinging your arms from side to side to allow yourself to feel your body physically move.
* Become aware of your surrounding – The 3 -3 -3 method of recognizing and acknowledging 3 things you can see, 3 things you can hear right in the moment and 3 things you can smell. This helps bring your thoughts back to the present.
* Magic Mantra- Having a go to mantra that you can repeat to yourself like- "This too shall pass" and slowly repeating it to yourself again and again.
* Writing your thoughts down in bullet points and then checking to see if they are true. And then, writing down an alternate perspective to that thought. i.e. "I also fail at whatever I try"- to "Well, I may fail at somethings but I also have been able to do some things right like...…"
* Call a friend who can help you work these thoughts and who can just be there for you.
* Breathe- One of the most effective ways of managing anxious thoughts is to manage your breathing. Stop whatever it is your doing and allow yourself to take long, slow, deep breaths.
We need to realize that that anxiety, especially severe anxiety, needs to be addressed and learning to control it will allow you to have a happy, healthy life.
