10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?

10 Self-care tips for anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?

10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?

“Anxiety is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far” stated American writer, Jodi Picoult. Anxiety stems when one is stuck in either regretting the past or fretting about the future. Anxiety bears no exceptions. It is quite natural, being human. But if it persists, it maligns your physical as well as mental health.

In this article, “10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?’, we shall look into why anxiety strikes, the reasons and factors that contribute to it, and also explore 10 self-care tips to deal with anxiety and overcome it.

Anxiety and fear in our daily lives

Being anxious or afraid is a natural human instinct. It is quite common and normal to be anxious. We are all, anxious of some or the other aspects of our lives. If someone says that they’ve never been anxious in their life, consider them abnormal, for, something must be really wrong about their brain’s anatomy. 

Ever wondered what exactly makes someone anxious? Before we get into our core topic, ’10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?’ we shall first take a look at the factors that can contribute to anxiety.

1.We all have something precious.

What makes you anxious? Just think about it for a while. No matter who you are and what you do, you do have people and things that you value, love, and nurture. We all have someone or something important, that matter to us truly. It’s a pretty good thing, honestly. But the bitter truth is that, it is one of the reasons that contributes to one’s anxiety and fear. We all have something precious and we fear losing it like the people you love, your career, profession, hard-earned riches, etc.

2. Social anxiety and bad past.

Social anxiety is a term that need no particular introduction since we all are quite familiar with it. It can be attributed to suffering a bad past. Someone who has constantly been abused in numerous ways, has not been loved or cared enough, has been through harassment, had a bad childhood, are some examples of people who fell victim to this malady. Social anxiety is the most common anxiety disorder. It can affect anyone and is also considered a risk factor as it can consequentially lead to other mood disorders and substance abuse.

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3. Hyperactive Amygdala

Neuroimaging studies hold increased activity in the amygdala and insula to be responsible for behavior exhibited in people suffering from anxiety. The amygdala is the region of the brain that has been allocated the task of processing emotions. Sometimes, hyperactive amygdala might be the reason behind all your suffering. The amygdala can dysfunction sometimes which explains the gush of overwhelming emotions.

4. Context and Situational Factors

Situational factors are yet another highly responsible factors in this respect. In 1971, the popular Stanford prison experiment was conducted with the purpose of examining the role of situational factors in producing our behaviors, emotions, and thoughts which ultimately manifest into our attributes. Pre-selected, normal college students were assigned to play the roles of either a guard or a prisoner, in the simulated prison.

The behavior exhibited by the subjects was quite unbelievable. Despite the fact that it was simulated, the prisoners suffered from extreme stress while the guards exhibited a brutal, and sadistic behavior. This study revealed the prevailing fact that context and situational factors play quite a significant role in determining our attributes and behaviors.

10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?

As rightly stated by John Kabat Zinn, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”. In this section, ‘Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?’ we shall explore ten ways that help you not only in coping with anxiety but also help you overcome it. Without further ado, let’s get into our topic.

1.Breathing exercises

Did you ever notice that when you are anxious you almost forget to breathe? We rarely pay attention to our breathing. But when we are anxious, it’s almost feels like hyperventilating.

Breathing exercises can help you quite effectively and they also provide an instant and quick relief to anxiety. These breathing exercises help you stay grounded. Here’s how it’s done. Take off your footwear if possible and plant your feet firm and solid on the ground. Rest your palms on your thighs. Feel your feet and palms being comforted against solid surfaces. Sit erect. Now close your inhale deeply for 2-4 seconds and hold your breath for a split secnd or two. Then, slowly exhale. 

Continue this process at least for ten times or as long until it makes you feel better. Remember that exhaling period should be longer than the inhaling one.

The same can be done in another way if you’ve got enough space to lay down. Find a snug space. Spread your feet and hands wide enough to relax. Close your eyes and do the same mentioned above. This is also known as Shavasana. It has multiple health benefits.

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2. Willis H. Carrier Formula

The formula that we are going to discuss in this section doesn’t give you instant relief. But instead, it will help with long-term results of outclassing your fear and anxiety. This formula is widely known as Willis H. Carrier formula. For, it has been devised by one of the most revered American engineers, Willis H. Carrier.

It consists of three steps. Firstly, identify the root cause of your fear. What is it, that is causing you fear and making  you fret. Secondly, think of what’s the worst that could happen if your fear manifests into your reality. And after you’ve done thinking, reconcile yourselves to accept the worst that could happen. Lastly, after you’ve accepted the worst part, try to improve upon the worst.

Say, that you’ve committed a mistake unintentionally. And you are afraid that it might come to light and your reputation would be ruined. So, firstly, you have to identify yourselves with the fear of being caught. What is the worst that could happen if it came to light? Definitely, your reputation would be ruined, your loved ones might hate you or desert you, and you might even end up being isolated and alone. In this case, you got to reconcile yourselves to accept the worst.

As the last step, just think of a possible way to set things right. In this case, it would be better if you are the one to confess your sin to your loved and concerned ones. Instead of living in a constant dread, it’s better to reveal the truth by yourself. It would hurt your loved ones more, if they got to know your secret through someone else. If they love you, they would forgive you and give you a second chance.

The main theory behind this highly effective formula is that it gives you space to think clearly. When you are anxious, your fear over rules  your ability to think clearly.

3. Take something warm

The next time your anxious, try taking something warm. For, warmth is quite comforting to the soul. It can quickly relieve you of anxiety. It soothes your spirit and rejoices your mood. Green tea, herbal tea, lemon tea, black coffee, decaf, etc. are much better than usual tea and coffee. For, they offer several other mood and health benefits too.

Warmth is especially much more comforting when you are feeling down. That’s why we have teddy bears :)

4. Try to calm yourself down

Usually, when we are anxious we tend to forget everything that’s happening around. For, we are solely concentrated on the fear. The most sensible thing to do is to calm yourself down. Still the wheels of your mind.

Take a short break from whatever it is that you are doing. A short pause would do good.  Give yourselves some space to stop fretting. Try the other methods mentioned above. Splash some water onto your face to bring yourselves back into reality. Plant your feet firmly to the ground and feel it.

5. The incredible power of 'letting go'

Jill Sherer Murray rightly said, "Letting go makes you unstoppable". When you let go of things that are holding you back, you are one step ahead in reclaiming and redeeming your true self. Your mind would be free of all the thoughts, that would otherwise be enervating. You find yourself in a new, peachy, and jubilant mood, resolutely facing all the challenges that life keeps throwing at you.

Letting go of negativity means, not letting negative thoughts control your mind and instead you pave the way to optimism and positive thoughts. Let go of the people that are toxic for you. Let go of others’ opinions. Let go of your self-critic. Let go of all those memories that have chained you to the past. Let go of everything that is holding you back. Let go of everything that is wreaking a havoc in your life. When life hits hard, just remember to ‘Let go’. These two words, can work wonders on you.

6. Don't take things personally

Often, it is our other emotions that bring out anxiety. How would you feel if someone you love ignores you? You might feel something like, "Maybe, I'm not that important to him/her". How'd you feel if you do something with a huge effort and all that you get back is harshness and criticism that you never expected? 

You would obviously feel hurt, offended, neglected, unloved, not taken care of, ignored, isolated, lonely, and probably many other things. 

The hitch here is that we are letting others' actions decide our state of being. We are relying on external circumstances to seek joy in life. We are depending on other people, to make us happy. And when that doesn’t happen we become disappointed as our expectations fail. This whole scenario is a vicious circle.

What could be done instead is to learn to accept criticism. If people say mean things, just laugh it away. Don’t expect things from people. For, people rarely live up to expectations. The solitary rule for happiness is to spread love and affection to everyone, but never expect back anything in return.

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7. Figure out what you really want from your life

Sometimes the hitch with our lives is that we don't exactly know, what we want. And that becomes the primary concern of our anxiety. When you are sure of what you desire, things start falling into place, automatically. Here's a short story regarding this.

A few students met their college professor after ten years of graduation. It was sort of a re-union. They started pouring out everything that's unfair about life. The professor gets up and walks into the kitchen to get some coffee. Meanwhile, the students see a motley of fantabulously fashionable coffee mugs and they start fighting amongst themselves, choosing their cups.

The professor returns from the kitchen and says, "See! this is why you are unhappy in life. It's the coffee that you have to care about not the mugs in which you drink".The moment you realize what's important to you, nothing else really matters.

8. Don’t let others opinions become your reality

Don't let the thought of being judged overtake your mind. For, no matter how good or how bad you are, people will always have something to say and talk about. People don't talk about who you really are, they talk about their perception of who you are. Be it good or bad. But, in most cases, people only speak about the bad. For, it pleases them the most.

Don't worry. For, it's not your fault. People think that it's their divine right to judge others. We live among people, who do nothing but still judge even the greatest legends of all times. How to deal with them? Ah! Just ignore them. Dogs bark. As rightly said, Ignorance is bliss.

9. Let go of trying to be someone you are not.

No matter what, be yourself. And keep improving yourself. But, never ever change your personality just to please others. Because in this world there are innumerous people with myriad personalities and it's impossible to get yourself loved and revered by everyone. 

Just be yourself and the right ones will come your way. That's what makes you unique and beautiful. Most importantly, it makes you, ‘you’. 

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10. Ashley Stahl's 'You-turn'

"I'm my own kidnapper. And only I have taken myself captive", said, Ashley Stahl, career coach, author, former counterterrorism, and podcast host.

Ashley explains that when you are overtaken by fear and doubt you disconnect with yourself and your passion. 'You-turn', as the name suggests, is to get yourself back into action by tapping into your true self. It's a three-step process.

a. Self-audit- Try to delve into the reason or incident that's holding you back. And is there a way to set things right? Search the answer.

b. Follow your freedom- Pay attention to what makes you happy and what makes you feel good so that you'd finally be free from the chains of your past.

c. Engage- take action. Start doing. Put all your practice into theory. Engage yourself with learning opportunities and keep developing yourself.

Concluding: ’10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?’

You are what you think and your life is what you build. You can mold it the way you want it to be. But, all it takes is some effort. I hope my article, ’10 Self-care tips for Anxiety: How to deal with Anxiety?’ is of assistance. Subscribe to my newsletter and get all updates delivered straight into your inbox.