Although it’s pretty normal to feel anxious from time to time – especially if a big life change is on the horizon – it is not normal to feel anxious all of the time, nor is it normal to feel anxious about relatively normal things like seeing friends or taking the subway.
Unfortunately, millions of us suffer from unnatural and unwanted levels of anxiety each year and it can be completely debilitating with symptoms including fear, excessive sweating, and heart palpitations. It can rob sufferers of their life.
The good news is, there are lots of things that you can to banish anxiety from your life, whether you have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, or you’re just prone to becoming over-anxious on occasion.
Here are some things to try if you want to say au revoir to your anxiety.
Therapy and Medication
If you have serious issues with your anxiety levels, you should definitely see your physician and look into talk therapy, CBT and medication. If your anxiety is really severe you will need these things to help you stabilize. Once you’re feeling better, you can try some of the other suggestions in this post to help you keep on top of your anxiety.
Stay in the Present
So much of our anxieties stem from thinking about the future. We worry about things that could happen, even if they are very unlikely, and it makes us panic. By staying in the present, we can remain calm and get through life with more ease.
How do we stay in the present? Mindfulness meditation can help immensely, as can breathing exercises. You may also find CBT exercises that focus on catastrophizing to be helpful.
Elimination Diets
Some anxiety-sufferers have found that what they eat affects how they can feel more than anything else, with sugar often being a big trigger for anxiety. An elimination diet can help you to find out if food could be the cause of your issues. Basically, on an elimination diet, you remove foods from your diet that you suspect could be causing your health issue to see how you feel. If you feel less anxiety after say eating sugar, you can then experiment with eating it again to see if the anxiety returns. By experimenting in this way, you could find a major piece of your personal anxiety puzzle.
Relabel Your Experiences
By reframing what you’re thinking in the midst of anxiety, you can often calm yourself down. For example, if your anxiety has caused you to have a panic attack instead of thinking “Oh my god I’m going to die!” try to tell yourself “I’m having a panic attack, I just need to breathe and it will subside.” This isn’t always easy but if you can practice doing it, it will make a difference.
Distract Yourself
Often when you’re anxious, you can interrupt your negative thought-cycle and start to feel better by simply doing something to distract yourself. This could be as simple as watching a fun TV show or taking a walk – yoga is good too. If your body and mind are occupied with other things, anxiety will often take a back seat.
Anxiety can be tough, but there are lots of techniques you can use to keep it at bay and even banish it for good!
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