Anxiety is a mental health battle that I fight everyday, so finding your favourite anxiety coping skills is incredibly important. The problem with anxiety is it tends to invade when I really don’t want it to and at the most inconvenient times. But, the worst thing is it can make me feel incredibly isolated and lonely. I’ve heard people saying to me, oh it is just nervousness. Anxiety is more than just feeling nervous, it is so much deeper than that.
There are a few ways that I am working on calming my anxiety, especially if:
- my mind is racing
- I’m struggling to sleep
- or I’m constantly worrying.
So how am I learning to cope with my anxiety?
01. Practice deep breathing
This has been a go to for me for so long because it can really help to focus on something else and get in touch with my thoughts and feelings. I follow the NHS breathing exercises for stress but I also have an app on my Fitbit that helps me to stay calm.
02. Listen to your favourite music
I have a playlist on Spotify that I automatically start playing when I’m feeling mega anxious. I can then sing along and it helps me to cope with my anxiety. Not only that it can also really help me to put what is causing me anxiety into perspective.
03. Write down what is causing you anxiety
Sometimes writing things down can really help put what you’re feeling into perspective. Some helpful prompts can be:
- how are you feeling right now
- is it a situation out of my control that is causing you to feel like this
- if so, then it is time to rest, I’ve done my bit
- how would you like to feel
- what steps can you take to improve how you’re feeling?
I have these prompts in my passion planner and it really helps me to map the way that I am feeling and work on the causes of my anxiety.
04. Do something creative
Lately I’ve been really into my calligraphy, and I love writing quotes in my passion planner. Having a creative outlet is definitely important for me. There are other things you can do to be creative such as:
- drawing
- writing
- painting.
05. Do some light stretches or yoga
I absolutely love my yoga practice, I find it so soothing. However, if you’re not a massive fan of yoga, or you don’t have much space, doing simple stretches can really release a lot of tension in your body.
06. Switch off from social media
Social media can cause so much anxiety in life, and sometimes it is important to just switch off from it all. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to just turn off your phone or at least turn off your notifications. Take that break, enjoy the moment.
Read social media anxiety & 5 ways to combat it
07. Read a book
I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, and it helps me to switch off from reality and have a bit more of an outlet. Sometimes getting lost in a book it can literally take your mind off everything and there are so many amazing books out there right now that you will absolutely love!
Find out what I’ve been reading lately.
08. Use a weighted blanket
Even though it is summer weighted blankets can really help with anxiety, especially on your high anxiety days. It can also really help you to sleep at night, calm your thoughts and mind, it can help you get a better nights sleep.
09. Find someone to talk to
This is a step that isn’t for everyone because you may not be ready to talk, you may not want to talk. If you are though, speak to someone you’re comfortable with. It doesn’t have to be a family member, a friend or a loved one, it can be someone impartial like Samaritans or a therapist.
10. Be kinder to yourself
We all need to stop being so hard on ourselves, so finding ways to be kinder is so important. On days where things have gone wrong or on days where you’re having a tougher day than normal:
- take a step back from the situation
- remind yourself how far you’ve come
- look at what you’ve been able to achieve
- plan steps on how you can achieve your next steps.
What are your favourite coping tips? Let me know!
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Thanks for sharing this sweetie!
Danielle | thereluctantblogger.co.uk
Thank you for sharing! I struggle with anxiety as well and a combination of meditation and yoga has helped me so much. ♥
http://www.mooeyandfriends.com
Being creative is deffo the best thing for me. Something that’s productive and that I love is always really helpful. Great tips!
Love this! Reading, writing and being creative are definitely my favourite coping mechanisms. Thanks for commenting x
Thank you for sharing these tips. My anxiety has been all over the place lately and I’ve been looking into more ways to manage it. Having people to talk to is something I’ve been doing more, I know that it’s ok to talk about it but it still feels like I’m burdening them.
Music has become so helpful to me over the years, and going for a walk while I listen to my favourite music really helps 🙂 thank you for sharing x
Doing something creative really helps me get back to me. If I’m feeling overwhelmed or anxious, I like to take myself away from what is causing that and plugging my attention into something creative!
Works every time
Rosie
All of these suggestions are great. I love yoga and my meditation app. Both activities calm me right down.
Thanks!
I love all of these tips! Being creative is such a brill idea and something I love to do when I’m anxious x
Weighted blanket is really popular now. I think I should get me one of those. Thank you for sharing.
There are so many benefits from switching off from social media – I personally like to do it atleast once a month. These are some great tips x
Thank you for sharing all these tips! I usually listen to rain sound and have a whole playlist that helps a lot! Reading and writing also help a lot x
Loved these tips! Writing down in my journal what’s causing me stress is really helpful for me and I sketch and doodle also to cope up with my anxiety. Thanks for sharing x
I really need to go back to some yoga, but also the idea of writing it down sounds brilliant! I could be checking on patterns and similarities, so I am definitely going to try that! Thank you Ami x
Great tips, for me, something that would help me is writing what cause it and try to fix it. But, I also do other things like listening to music.
I absolutely love these tips, I defiantly will be adding a few of these into my daily routine. I’m quite an anxious person myself so I’m constantly looking for new coping techniques! Thank you for sharing Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
Thanks for sharing these tips my love. I really like the idea of your playlist. It’s something I’d never actually thought of before, but it makes so much sense!
Claire.X
http://www.clairemac.co.uk
Hi Amie,
Those sound to be some very useful tips, thanks.
I’m pretty fortunate in that very few things worry me – much to my wife’s annoyance! 🙂 When they do there are 2 things that I find helpful:
1. If it’s a particular person that has irritated me – I have a punchbag hanging up in the garage! Can’t get arrested for beating the crap out of a bag of sand, can you?! Knowing that I will do this to the punchbag later helps me not do it to the person in the moment!
2. If it’s something that needs to be dealt with but I’m struggling to think how – PS4! This really helps because with the vast majority of games you have to really concentrate in order to succeed. This 100% focus takes your mind off the burning issue. Which gives your subconscious time to work on the problem. Most of the time, once I switch off the PS4 I’ve actually thought about how to deal with the problem 🙂
I love that there’s so many ideas. Something for everyone! I love to do yoga and stretch. Or get away and go for a walk. They’re really key to my self care practises and keeping my anxiety in check. But probably the best is speaking to someone. Things feel easier when I feel heard
These are fab tips Amie! Music and journaling help me a lot during down times. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for sharing these tips! As someone who also suffers with anxiety these are things I tend to incorporate a lot already, but I think this would be so useful for others 😊
Thanks for these wonderful tips! Yoga and meditation helps me calm down and unwind.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
thank you for sharing your experience and these really helpful tips!!
jessica | http://www.overdressedblogger.com
Meditation helps me with my anxiety, it just allows me to relax and focus on the here and now, a brilliant post! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Breathing exercises and writing it all down tends to help me, it’s like I need to get it out of my head and somewhere else xx
Thanks for sharing, I found that doing some colouring-in at the moment is helping a little bit to help me relax when I’m feeling anxious 🙂
This popped up at the perfect time for me, thank you for sharing.
I don’t really know what’s making me anxious atm, but throwing myself into something creative and trying to do some deep breathing is definitely helpful.