There are some strategies you can try to manage your anxiety. What works for one may not work for you, so you need to find and practise the right strategy that works the best for you. Some of the strategies are long-term that you can make a regular part of your life to keep anxiety in check.
1. Do deep breathing
Take deep breaths slowly when you feel anxious. It’s because when you are anxious, your breathing becomes shallow and fast due to changes in heart rate. Taking slow rhythmic breaths can help you calm down and reduce the feeling of anxiety. Sit in a calm and comfortable place and count up to three both when you inhale and exhale.
2. Relax tense muscles
Progressive muscle relaxation is a relaxing technique to reduce the physical tension you get from being anxious. It involves tensing and then relaxing each muscle group, one by one at a time. Say, for instance, start from your foot. Hold the tension for up to three seconds and release quickly.
3. Maintain a healthy lifestyle
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle helps reduce anxiety and promotes overall wellbeing. Keep yourself active, work out, eat healthily, spend time with nature, family, and friends and above all, have a good quality sleep.
4. Face what makes you anxious
Try approaching situations or fear that make you feel anxious. Avoiding fearful situations or emotions only provides short-term relief but worsens in the long term. You’ll learn to cope with it only when you approach things that give you anxiety, even in a small way.
5. Tame your thoughts
Anxiety can exaggerate a situation, making you think about only the worst outcomes. Develop positive thinking to interpret an anxious situation in different ways rather than jumping to quick negative conclusions.
6. Identify triggers and learn about your anxiety
Manage your anxiety proactively by keeping a note of your trigger points— situations and times you feel the most anxious. Finding the patterns and working on effective ways keeps you well equipped to confront such situations.
7. Plan your worry time
Having a planned worry session helps keep your worries from consuming you at all times. Take 10 to 30 minutes a day where you can go through your worries or even write them down.
8. Be kind to yourself
Being anxious does not mean you are weak, or something is wrong with you. You are stronger than you think and there is always help to battle out anxiety, so be kind to yourself.
9. Share with others
Talking with others and sharing experiences who also experience anxiety actually helps you feel relieved and know that you are not alone.
10. Make the present moment your priority
Live more in the present rather than worrying about things that have not happened yet. Practising meditation can help you focus more on the present without worrying.
