10 Tips to Manage Anxiety
I’m flying this week for the first time in 1.5 years, and I’m a little anxious.
Anxiety has been a frequent companion for much of my life, sometimes severe.
Learning tools to manage it has been a game changer.
Here are ten tools that help me:
Acceptance. Fighting against the anxiety, wishing it wasn’t happening, and criticizing myself doesn’t help. Understanding it’s just my brain trying to protect me does help.
Curiosity. Being curious about how the vibration of anxiety feels in my body. Where do I feel it? Does it have a color, size, shape, texture, temperature (fast or slow). Being a compassionate, curious observer.
Thought download. Write down all my thoughts - get them out of my head and onto paper where I can see them objectively. Ask questions like, “What am I afraid of?” Just get it all out.
Empowering thoughts. Create one or two helpful thoughts to practice, such as “Everything will be okay” and “I can handle anything that happens.” When the anxiety-producing thoughts come up, substitute the empowering thoughts.
Shift chemistry. Emotions like love, joy, and gratitude all shift our body chemistry out of the hormones of anxiety. Laughter is especially powerful so sometimes I practice laughing on purpose for no reason.
Move. Especially rhythmic activities such as walking, biking, and dancing - all help to move the stress hormones out of our bodies.
Vagus nerve stimulation. Laughing, humming, singing, slow deep breathing, foot massage, cold water immersion.
Shift out of “emotional brain” into “rational brain.” Give my brain a challenging task such as counting backwards from 100 by 3’s, or choose a color and count everything I can see that is that color.
Nature. The sights and sounds of nature are very relaxing for our nervous systems.
Talk to people who care about me, especially people who aren’t caught up in the same emotions.
Those are some of the tools that help me with managing anxiety.
What helps you? Send an email to liz@happybrainlife.com and let me know!
Love,
Liz
P.S. I’m a coach for heart centered women. I help you build your resilience so you can enjoy life more!
