In honor of Mental Illness Awareness Week, I thought I’d share 5 Ways to Help Deal With Your Anxiety. In a society riddled in anxiety, it’s hard to learn to cope with it at times. To be completely honest, I’ve never found myself to be an anxious person, but now, I find myself avoiding certain situations just because of how anxious they make me. How did this happen? Well, a few things come to mind, however, this isn’t my story about who or what triggered my anxiety (that’s for another time), but instead, what I personally do to combat it. Now, these won’t work for everyone. But I find these are the best for me, and I thought I’d share them.
1. Change your scenery and go for a walk
Let’s say, you’re in your bedroom working on some emails – and you get a text that makes you anxious. Whether that be from your boss, your parents, or an ex. You turn your phone over, and time passes, but that anxious feeling doesn’t go away. It’s time for a change of scenery! And no, walking to the bathroom doesn’t count. Go for a walk. Like, outside. Don’t make phone calls, don’t text your friends, put all your distractions away and go outside. Once you remove yourself from that environment, it’s going to give you a fresh perspective on how to tackle it. Get immersed in mother nature and the masterpiece she’s displaying for you! Appreciate the crisp air on your skin, and the sounds of the birds as they sing. Addressing the triggered anxiety in a new, refreshing and uplifting environment (walking gives you endorphins!)
2. Stop apologizing for self-care
Full disclosure, I’m not quite here yet, but I’m getting closer. I can’t seem to take time off to care for myself, and if I do, it’s this vicious cycle of excitement, guilt, regret, finished with a big heaping scoop of anxiety. RINSE and REPEAT. I’m excited I’m taking some time for myself. But then I start feeling guilty that I could be doing x, y or z. Then regret kicks in, and I think I should have never done this, and then BAM! Hello Anxiety. Here I am trying to take care of myself and give myself a much needed break… Yet, all that ends up happening is me giving myself more anxiety.
It sucks. And I find this happens a lot in my life, to the point where I don’t give myself a break. And it’s so wrong. I’m a strong, bad-ass, hardworking, slightly high-strung, focused woman. I deserve a break. And this is what you (and I) need to keep saying out loud. We need to take care of ourselves. Gift your bad-ass self an afternoon to read your favorite book; gift yourself an uninterrupted bubble bath; gift yourself that movie rental and over priced face mask.
YOU. DESERVE. IT.
