Many things in life can cause you a lot of stress, anxiety, and worry. You might be worried about bills, your kids, your house, or how you are going to find a job. Perhaps you have had a traumatic event in your life that has caused you to be anxious and on edge all of the time. These things are often what makes people who already suffer from anxiety, feel upset, worried and sometimes physically unwell. However, there are a few ways that you can learn to try and control your anxiety and free yourself from its control.
Keep Repeating Your Worry
If there is something that is worrying you, try to keep repeating the worry over and over again. At first, you will be anxious, and this might put you off persevering, but, if you do manage to carry on, then you will soon find that you become bored with it and it doesn’t worry you as much. If you find that the worry is starting to come to your mind again, then repeat it over again until it bores you again. It might take you a few tries to get you used to what’s worrying you, but it will be worth the effort.
Don’t Try to Control It
Although your instincts are to try and control your anxiety and your panic attacks, in fact, the opposite is true. When you feel anxiety or worry building, your body is also starting to raise your levels of adrenaline because it feels there is a problem that is threatening you. What you are trying to do is to fight the effects of this adrenaline rush which can be hard to do. The best thing to do is to allow the worry or the panic attack to run its course that way you will lower your adrenaline levels quicker, and you will feel better. Another thing to try is to imagine the thing you are afraid of happening. For example, if you are worried that you will make a mistake in an interview, try to imagine doing that and see how it feels. Think about scenarios that you can use to get around it if it happens. It will make you feel less anxious when the time comes.
Allow Thoughts to Come and Go
Sometimes, especially when you are trying to relax or fall asleep, your mind will start to play thoughts in your mind. It can become frustrating, especially if they are thoughts you don’t want, or they are making you anxious. One way that you can try to overcome them is to think about them and let them follow their natural path; they should then move on and go away. If you try to suppress them or think of other things, you will be making your mind more active and less likely to relax. It can seem like something that shouldn’t work, but it should, and then you will be able to relax and sleep.
Learn to Recognize False Alarms
Sometimes, you might have a fear that will come upon you without any warning. For example, you might suddenly fear that your rapid heartbeat is you having a heart attack, or that you have left the oven on, so the house will burn down. In most cases, these thoughts are not real, and you are making them worse by worrying about them. Trying to forget about them isn’t easy, as they can seem like a genuine threat. You need to try and train yourself to think that these thoughts are passing alerts that you don’t need to deal with right now. Like when you get a notification on your phone and when you check, it’s just a spam email. You should acknowledge that you have received it, and then let it go. It can be a difficult thing to do, especially if you are feeling panicked, but if you can get through it, then you will soon be able to let these thoughts go and move forward.
Get a Pet
You might be wondering how getting a pet can help you overcome your anxiety. However, owning a pet has a number of benefits for you including helping with your mental health. The reason it’s healthy to have pets is that they can often lead you to do things like walking which keeps you fit, or they can relax you and distract you from your worries. Choose a pet that is friendly and one that you can perhaps have with you when you need support. Dogs, in particular, can be good for this, which is why they are often used as support dogs.
Exercise
As mentioned earlier, when you get worried, your adrenaline levels start to rise, this can make you agitated and on edge. One way to combat this is to try some exercise; it will burn off some of the adrenaline and help you to feel calmer. Doing regular exercise is also known to help people with anxiety and depression to control their symptoms. That is because when you do exercise, your body releases chemicals that give you a natural feeling of euphoria. For that reason, try to do some exercise at least one every other day. It doesn’t have to be strenuous, but it should be something to get you moving.
Learn to Breathe
If you are becoming worried or anxious, you will often find that your breathing starts to increase, or you might hold your breath. Both of these are going to make your anxiety worse, so you need to try and control your breathing. When you feel it happening, think about your breathing and make the conscious effort to slow it down, or to take regular slow breaths. If you can control your breathing, then you should start to feel a lot calmer.
The most important thing about worry and anxiety is that you should try not to let it take over your life. You need to learn to take control and do things that you enjoy.
