At some point in everyone’s life, there is a moment of anxiety. For some of us, this moment seems to be our entire lives. There are many different aspects to anxiety as well and over the years I have come to learn that I have extreme anxiety. It is something that is hard to cope with. You feel out of breath and like the room is closing in. There are different ways to deal with anxiety, but sometimes that doesn’t seem to always work. For some people, the anxiety is always there. It doesn’t matter what you are doing or even if you don’t know why it’s there, it just… is. I am one of those people and when I learned how to better control it, my life became a little bit easier. So today on Simple Michelle Raven, I decided to share some of my tips for managing anxiety with you.
PLEASE NOTE: I am not a doctor. I am just a girl who has learned how to deal with her anxiety and is giving her opinion.
One of the first things I learned about managing my anxiety was to learn to take moments to myself and breathe. I know that we lead busy lives now and sometimes it is so difficult to find a moment to just stop and relax. Listen to a song and dance it out or pick up a book, read a quote. anything helps. Then I slowly began to realize that anxiety ( along with other things) could be better managed when exercise was involved in my life. That is when I picked up a yoga class at school that met weekly. It was one of the best ideas I’ve ever had because it allowed to me to go a place and stretch my body without having to use my mind or worry.
There are some people who make stress and anxiety equal in definition and that makes me want to scream. They are NOT the same and anyone who is a chronic anxiety sufferer will understand. Either way, I found that writing everything down in my agenda seems to help tremendously. My current agenda is Vera Bradley and found here: http://www.verabradley.com/product/Accessories/category/Paper-and-Gifts/2014-Student-Agenda/1002013/defaultColorVariantId/180788/pc/1089/c/1115/sc/1162/p/1002013.uts?fromSearch=1
I can write down anything I am worried that I will forget and it is all in one simple place for me. I have also found that using resources such as my cell phone has helped. If I feel anxiety, I know that my mom or dad are just a phone call away and can talk me through an attack. I believe however that a phone can also be a source of anxiety. Studies have shown that the constant use of a smart phone leads to high blood pressure and anxiety levels than those who don’t have one, so try putting your phone down for awhile, it can make a huge difference!
My final tip for managing anxiety is to get a self mantra in your head and use your voice to learn to calm yourself. Phrases such as ” I am going to be okay” and “this is not as big of a deal as I am making it to be” can help so much in your life. I feel out of everything I have written, this may be the most important. Getting the idea into your head that you are in control and will survive this bout of anxiety is crucial to being happy, in my opinion.
I hope this helps any fellow sufferers out there and please, if you have tips, ideas, etc, post a comment! I love to hear from you all and I know this is not an easy subject to approach! Much love to you all.
Simply Michelle Raven 