How to Manage Anxiety- 10 Tips
These are really challenging times for all of us. The situation that we are going through is pushing us through our limits. I first want you to know that it is ok to feel this way. I hear you, I feel you. You are not alone and whatever you are feeling is absolutely valid and real.
A lot of fear might come up. Maybe you are scared for your finances, your health or the health of the loved ones; maybe you are afraid of dying…. Our inner wounds are being brought to the surface and we are left having to handle the intensity of those all at once. This can be absolutely overwhelming. Maybe you are feeling lost, hopeless and desperate.
I see you.
Living this kind of struggle, having to cope with all these emotions can wake up a lot of anxiety.
I used to suffer from anxiety during so many years and it was one of the most difficult things I went through. It is so frustrating, so uncomfortable, so painful. I just wanted to run away from it, I wanted it to stop right away. I felt pressure in my chest and throat, I couldn’t breathe normally and it was making my head so blurry. I couldn’t think straight, I felt overwhelmed with the amount of thoughts going on in my head. I couldn’t find ease or relaxation being so busy in my brain and feeling so uncomfortable in my body. I felt the fear was taking over. This is why I created an online program to overcome stress and anxiety. I wanted to help people in the same situation. I wanted to offer easy tools that can be used from the comfort of your own home and at your own time. Check it out here if you feel you can benefit from it.
Some Common Symptoms of Anxiety:
· You are constantly worrying
· You need to be constantly stimulated, living in a rush
· You feel agitated, unease inside
· You overthink everything
· You feel disconnected
· You have sleeping problems
· You suffer from addictions
· You feel lonely and unsupported
· You feel always tired
· You feel brain fogged
· You feel pressure on your chest throughout the day
· You live in fear
· You have panic attacks
· You struggle to slow down
Maybe you can relate to this. Maybe you are feeling all of these sensations and you want to find some relief. I want to help you with this. I want to offer my part to be of service in this situation. In this post I want to talk about simple techniques to cope with anxiety. I have used all of them and they have brought me peace and happiness and I hope you can benefit from them too.
First of all, the key of the techniques is to learn how to self-sooth. This is basically being able to calm down our nervous system when it has been activated from a stressful event (fight-or-flight response). We are supposed to learn how to self-sooth in our childhood through our parents. Unfortunately most of us we haven’t been able to learn from them because they were also struggling from their own trauma. As this wasn’t taught or modelled, our nervous system became deregulated and we find it difficult to cope with our emotions. However, I’m here to tell you that you can do that now, as an adult. These are some of the tools to be able to release anxiety.
10 Tips To Manage Anxiety:
1) Welcome anxiety as your friend: we normally try to push it away, resist it and hate it. We might feel ashamed and we want to avoid it at all cost. Anxiety is the way for our body and soul to send us powerful messages. Consciously set the intention to welcome anxiety with love, kindness and compassion and find the messages that it wants to give you. Anxiety is just trying to protect and help you. The more you resist it, the more you are avoiding feeling the emotions and more accumulation of energy is happening. In order to allow the energy to flow freely we need to feel it, welcome it, embrace it and honour it.
2) Create a routine: having schedules and a planned day is a great way to help you release anxiety. It might sound weird, but it is a way to bring safety to our bodies. We bring some certainty in this confusing and uncertain situation through schedules and routines. Maybe have lunch every day at the same time; maybe plan the activities for the next day and the time you’ll go to bed. It’s a great way to be prepared for obstacles and to bring some peace to your day.
3) Eat lots of plants: plan a healthy meal full of colour and nutrients. The body needs nourishing meals to feel safe. Nutrition is a primal need for human beings. Take the time to cook, maybe put some music or follow a Youtube recipe. Make it fun. If you need help getting enough veggies, check out this post.
4) Take deep belly breaths: abdominal breathing is a great tool to help you self-shoot. When we do that we are teaching the nervous system how to self-regulate. We are stimulating our vagus nerve and sending messages of peace and safety to the brain. Just sit or lie down, take a deep breath through your nose, inflating your abdominal area, and breath our through your mouth. Do this as often as you need. You can set reminders on your phone to help you incorporate this habit.
5) Give yourself physical touch: give yourself a massage, a big hug, whatever it is that makes you feel good. The brain doesn’t know if you are being touched by you or someone else so the effects are the same. You might feel stupid at the beginning but give yourself a hug when you wake up. Before going to bed, take some cream or oils and give yourself a foot massage and enjoy it!
6) Move your body: welcoming movement to your life is vital for well-being. When you are feeling anxious, your body is creating big amounts of energy in order to embrace the “threat”. To avoid this energy getting stuck in the body, move it, in whatever way that feels good. Maybe you can do some jumping jacks, or yoga. Whatever that is available to you in these moments and that makes you have fun.
7) Journal: journaling is a great way to release the weight of the intensity of the emotions. I absolutely love journaling and I do it every single day. It is an amazing tool that will help you feel lighter, more peaceful and get some clarity. You can check here my blog post on journaling.
8) Limit your social media and news content: you don’t need to watch news every single day or scroll on instagram. If these practises aren’t serving you, honour that and give yourself the break that you deserve.
9) Prioritise sleep: sleep is a spiritual practise. Sleeping helps the body heal and restore. Make sure that you are having enough good quality sleep. Check out here how to create a night routine to help your body rest.
10) Ground: if you can go out barefoot I invite you to do so. It is so healing and balancing. Allow the energy of Mother Earth to love you and hold you. If you can’t go outdoors, that’s ok! You can do it from home. Visualise roots coming out of your feet. Feel your body, use your senses to centre you.
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