Coping with Our Daily Anxiety

‍Anxiety is a feeling of fear and excessive worry that can range from a mild to severe array of symptoms. This happens as a response from our bodies when we sense any sort of danger coming our way. A lot of reasons can explain why people experience feelings of anxiety. For example, some may feel anxious before an exam (specific encounter) while others can have these feelings towards random aspects of their lives (general situations). Whatever the causes of anxiety may be, we all experience it in a spectrum and with different perspectives. There are physical symptoms that come with anxiety such as rapid heartbeats, impaired concentration, excessive sweating, and difficulty in sleep schedules which in turn leads to feelings of fatigue and irritability- anxious symptoms. And sometimes when these symptoms happen on a daily basis, knowing how to deal with them effectively can help you on the long term.

Ways to cope with daily anxiety

1. Creating daily routines and setting fixed schedules.

An example is having a stable sleep cycle, which means sleeping and waking up at around the same time every day. Not only that, but also being able to get the required amount of sleep that you need every night is also considered a way of maintaining a healthy fixed routine. Note that not getting enough sleep can actually worsen your anxiety! Think about it this way: when you sleep well and your body is well rested, you are less likely to feel tired or on edge the next day, which will reduce your anxiety.

2. Participating in any physical activity.

This can apply to certain common sports like going to the gym, swimming, playing tennis, or running a marathon. Being physically active does not only encompass that. If you’re not a big fan of sports, you can try going on regular walks, doing some stretches, or even dancing around at home. The important thing here is to give yourself space to move around as much as you can and make sure your body is in an active mode, because exercise is good for both your physical and mental health, and when you put yourself in this active state; your body plays a role as well. It releases chemicals in your brain that are responsible for stress, so being physically active is directly related to reducing anxiety, and it can help extensively in managing your anxiety whenever it overwhelms you.

3. Having a Support System

This is a simple yet effective way to cope with anxiety: finding your comfort zone in people who you can talk with effortlessly about your feelings. The mere idea of knowing that you have someone you can vent to whenever your anxiety starts to take over is in a way reassuring because it reminds you that you are not alone. Talking about your anxiety to someone and listening to yourself speak and actually hearing what you are thinking about out loud can sometimes help put things into perspective, see things clearer, and reduce any anxious feelings you might have when disclosing.

4. Creating an “anxiety window”

That is a very old trick in the field of psychiatry. When you have lots of fears, worries, doubts and thoughts that seem to be overwhelming, you might get caught up in them and feel like they are taking over. It is often quite difficult to escape from this thinking cycle once you fall into it. Hence, creating an anxiety window helps you break this mentally exhausting and self-destructive cycle by limiting the amount of time, effort, and consideration that you give it. In other words, instead of letting your fears and worries control you by thinking about them all the time, you will consciously and actively decide to minimize the amount of time you spend thinking about them. So instead of constantly having your worries and fears in mind, you will set a certain time in your day. This can be about half an hour to an hour (depends), that you will dedicate specifically to thinking about the things that are stressing you out. By doing so, you will be able to move on with your day and continue stress-free.

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A Word from O7therapy

Anxiety is normal. Choose to understand its triggers and find constructive ways to cope with it. Remember that if your anxiety still remains uncontrollable and you are still struggling to find a suitable coping style (like the tips and techniques mentioned above), you can always consider seeking professional help.

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