Healthy Ways To Deal With Anxiety

Bella Breakdown

Anxiety creeps up on us in the most unexpected ways, but when the panic sets in, sometimes it seems unbearable to shake off. As someone who’s been diagnosed for years with generalized anxiety, sometimes it seems like there’s no way to crawl out of the hole of despair.

But there is hope.

Here are some of therapists’ and psychiatrists’ most trusted forms of anxiety reduction, so if you’re ever feeling down and out for the count you can always turn to these simple solutions. Trust me, I’ll be trying each one of these over the next few weeks. And yes, while deep breathing is always going to be an option, I’m not putting it on this list so we can delve into some lesser known tactics.

Sensory Stimulation
Something as simple as splashing your face with cold water can shock your cells and divert the attention your anxiety is grabbing from you. This quick and simple solution can get you to “snap out of it” which will temporarily lessen the anxiety so you can focus on regrouping your thoughts.

Go Dark
Turn off social media. So much of our anxiety comes from seeing what others are doing, getting messages and spam we don’t want, etc. Unplug for a few hours and focus on the here and now. Let yourself feel what you’re feeling so you can identify the issue and clear it up.

Keep Your Hands Busy
Clenching, moving, stress balls, anything that keeps your hands active while you’re undergoing an anxiety attack can once again divert the stress to new places in your body. Instead of feeling it everywhere at once, concentrate your feelings.

Other quick tips include journaling or “riding the wave.” Sometimes its best to feel all the anxiety, cry it out, and realize how strong of a person you are on the other side of that dark tunnel. As a final note – none of these tips will ever erase your anxiety completely, but they can help you pinpoint problems and release the stress to help stabilize yourself into a better state of mind.