Self Help Anxiety – 9 Best Ways To Cope With Anxiety
Want to know the best self help anxiety tips? Here they are – 9 simple tips to help cope with anxiety (these are life-changing!)
Let’s chat about self help anxiety tips.
If you struggle with anxiety on a daily basis, I want you to know that there are simple ways to cope with anxiety (as opposed to reaching for unhealthy coping methods, such as drug or alcohol abuse).
Here in this post I will be outlining 9 healthy ways to cope with anxiety. I’d love for you to give these a go and see if they ease the impact that anxiety has on your life.
Consider these anxiety-reducing strategies:
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
1 – Deep breathing exercises.
Many of us use our chests to breathe rather than the diaphragm, which is a large muscle found in your abdomen.
But to breathe DEEPLY in a way that relaxes you we need to use our diaphragm.
To try this technique: when you breathe in, your stomach should expand and then contract when you breathe out.
- Breathing with only your chest will cause you to have short and shallow breaths that can cause increased stress and anxiety.
- So try deep breathing exercises instead – nice and slow. You can do them literally anywhere and they do have a way of calming you down.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
2 – Progressive muscle relaxation.
This technique involves tensing your muscles in your body and then relaxing them one at a time.
When you do this, you’re teaching your muscles that when you’re stressed, which often causes muscle tension, that you need to relax.
So move from one muscle group to another – from your feet to your legs to your back to your arms to your neck (or really, you can do it in any order that you like!).
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
3 – Mindfulness.
This is a common technique to reduce anxiety.
With mindfulness, you put your full attention on what you’re doing in that moment.
I absolutely love being mindful – I try to do it regularly especially when I am doing things like washing the dishes or my face.
You aim to notice the sights, sounds, and smells around you.
It’s hard to feel anxious when you get outside of your own head and put your full focus on the present moment.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
4 – Self-monitoring.
This is when you watch out for yourself and try to work out what exactly is causing you to feel anxious.
Do you notice when it is happening?
What thoughts or events trigger your anxiety?
It may be that certain people, events, or situations cause you to feel anxious.
Once you figure out your triggers, you may be able to do something to prevent the oncoming anxiety.
Awareness is the first step to coping with anxiety.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
5 – Get support from others.
Life is honestly so much easier when you have the support of others!
It has been found time and time again that support from friends and family is important when dealing with anxiety.
Having someone you trust and can share your feelings with can be extremely helpful when it comes to coping with anxious feelings.
- There are also therapists and various groups available full of like-minded people dealing with similar issues who may be able to help too. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
6 – Self-soothing strategies.
While support from others is great, sometimes you may find yourself alone and feeling quite anxious.
So, what are you supposed to do then?
One self-soothing technique involves being positive and telling yourself that everything will be okay and that you can handle the situation.
Because that really is the truth.
Everything will be okay and you can handle the situation if you just decide these things are true.
- It’s important that you don’t allow too many negative thoughts into your mind while performing this strategy. Keep your mind focused on the positive – on your strength, resilience and ability to stay calm and cope.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
7 – Write down your thoughts and feelings.
Rather than keeping how you feel inside to fester, it is so much better for you to get these thoughts out of your mind and onto paper.
I call this a brain dump and I make sure to personally do this myself at least once a week.
Release it, let it go, get it all out of your head.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
8 – Distraction techniques.
Sometimes focusing intently on your emotions can make them feel even stronger which sort of sucks and leaves you feeling more out of control of the situation.
By using distraction, you’re consciously taking your mind off your emotions and making them easier to manage.
- You can do anything you want to distract yourself. A walk is a common way of distracting yourself as is reading (love this!), doing puzzle or watching a TV series.
- Note: this isn’t necessarily AVOIDING your emotions. You first acknowledge that they are there and yes you feel anxious. There is no denying this. Distraction in this instance is a TOOL you are using to divert your attention to something more pleasant.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
9 – Work towards a goal.
Another way to cope with your anxious feelings is to work towards a goal.
We all know how good it feels to achieve a goal we have been working towards, right?
Achieving a goal can be both motivating and help reduce depression and anxiety.
- Try using a technique called behavioral activation. Each time that you feel anxious, engage your mind in a positive and rewarding activity, such as working toward a goal.
SELF HELP ANXIETY TIPS
All in all, these strategies can each help you to cope better with anxiety.
This isn’t to say it will necessarily eliminate all of your anxiety forever. Some techniques may work better for you than others while some may work better in different situations.
Others may not work for you at all but that’s okay.
As long as you know you have OPTIONS.
The key is to try and test these tools to discover which ones are most helpful to you and practice them in anxious situations whenever you need that additional support to calm you down.
I wish you the best of luck, my friend!
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I’m Frances Vidakovic – a mindset & action coach for quietly ambitious women who want to stop overthinking and finally take aligned action. I help women achieve their goals and follow through on what matters, without sacrificing their sanity or soul.