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How often do you catch yourself feeling completely out of sorts, and turning to Google to search “what to do when you’re feeling anxious?”
Worry not, my friends. I’m here to tell you my top five activities for just such an occasion! Whether you’re a little on edge or feeling like you can’t leave the house, something on this list will be sure to help you out.
*I’m not a doctor, or medically trained in any way. These tips come from personal experience only.
Regulate your breathing.
Anxiety often manifests itself physically. A common symptom is feeling difficulty breathing, or inability to get a deep breath in.
A technique called box breathing has really helped us out on a few occasions. When you use this technique to slow your breathing, by default you’re also helping to slow your racing thoughts and your panic until you regain your focus and can work on addressing what triggered your anxiety.
The basic steps are:
- Breathe in slowly, counting to four as you concentrate on the feeling of the air in your lungs.
- Hold that breath in for four seconds.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth, counting to four seconds.
- Repeat until you feel like your breathing has returned to normal.
Write down what you’re feeling.
This sounds so cliché, I know. However, clichés are clichés for a reason.
Get a physical pen and paper and write down what you’re feeling. Just word-vomit onto the page if you need to.
Then, do through what you wrote point-by-point and ask yourself whether it’s something within your control. If not, ask yourself why something you can’t control is causing you anxiety!
I like to follow this exercise up with some positive affirmations as well, for some extra optimism.
One habit I’ve found helpful over the past few months is writing a few pages of thoughts every morning. When you’re first waking up, your mind is jumbled with dreams and thoughts about the day to come, so it’s helpful to dump those thoughts onto a page (or three) and have a fresh slate for the day!
Work on something offline.
Put down your phone. Turn off the video games, your iPad, or your laptop.
No screentime allowed for this one.
It’s so easy these days to get sucked into anything digital, and we go so long like that that we often forget to take the time to appreciate what’s going on offline.
And it’s no surprise that social media is a pretty significant trigger for anxiety.
Take an hour or more and work on something tangible:
- Do a puzzle.
- Try a craft (cross-stitch, knitting, colouring, paint-by-numbers, etc).
- Read a physical book.
For bonus points, go outside. Whether that means walking to the store for a ten-minute reprieve or heading to the beach to catch the sunset, as long as you stay away from technology for a little bit, I promise you’ll feel better afterward.
Talk to someone.
We’re getting much better as a society about discussing mental health, but we’ve got a long way to go. Oftentimes we want to be seen as the strong one, or as simply not someone to worry about, but it’s so easy for those defensive feelings to eat you up.
Talking to your trusted friends and family about your feelings is necessary. And it doesn’t make you weak— in fact, it makes you human. And even though your best friend or your spouse doesn’t like seeing you feeling upset, they’ll feel great about knowing that you can talk to them about your worries. It’s a mutual exchange of trust, and that feels great.
However, there is always the possibility that you might still feel like you can’t turn to someone you know when you’re feeling anxious. And that’s okay too! Counselors and the like are blissfully easily accessible these days, and which it can be a bit costly, it’s worth it to budget accordingly. Your mental health deserves it.
BAKE SOMETHING.
Can you tell that one’s my favourite?
I’m a home-baker, so perhaps I’m biased, but baking can be very cathartic when you’re feeling anxious.
When everything is feeling out of your control, being able to turn to a recipe and make something comforting as you follow the directions to deliciousness feels great.
One caveat to this one is that you’d ought to be careful how much of your baking you wind up eating.
I love adapting recipes and making lower-calorie versions of my favourite treats. Not only is that better for you physically, it feels better as a serial-snacker to be able to indulge a tiny bit more and not have to feel like I overdid it or wind up physically uncomfortable.
Final Thoughts
We all find ourselves feeling anxious from time to time. It’s a normal part of the human condition.
What you do with those feelings is a very personal decision, but I hope you’ll consider some of these options to help sort out your feelings in the future.
The sad fact is that we can’t just ignore how we feel, or push things to the side and act surprised when they come back with a vengeance a month later. If we don’t act on improving our situation, nothing is going to change.
Remember to focus on what you can control. If the world feels out of whack, and you feel stuck, the one constant you can control is your own attitude.
Let me know which of these suggestions you’d like to try out in the comments below!
I’m also happy to hear any additional tips you might have!