5 Ways I Actually Deal with My Anxiety That You May Not Have Heard Before!

Feb 16, 2018

I want to preface this post by saying that I am not a medical professional or a licensed therapist but I have been coping with anxiety my entire life. So I know a thing or two about how to deal with anxiety. The past few weeks for me have been incredibly anxiety-inducing. There are so many changes happening and time seems to be going by so fast. Anyone of these life changes would give a normal person anxiety but to someone with generalized anxiety, that looks like a lot of tears and a lot of sleepless nights.

I don't know if you've noticed but this week I've been STRUGGLING to write blog posts. That's what I get for not sticking to my blog workflow but what can ya do? Anyways I figured one thing that I absolutely could write about this week was how I actually deal with my anxiety. Dealing with anxiety is different for everyone. There is no one right way to deal with anxiety. Each person is different and each of their chemical makeups is different. What works for my anxiety may not work for yours and vice versa. That's totally okay! The point of this post is for me to share some of the ways that I deal with my anxiety so that you can use them and see if any of them actually work for yours!

5 ways I deal with my anxiety that you may not have heard before

Do something mindless

One of the first tools I actually learned for coping with my anxiety was to do something mindless or a task that didn't require you to think. A mindless task can be anything from drinking 10 sips of water while focusing on breathing (which is my go-to trick when I'm feeling particularly anxious) or even taking a shower and focusing on the steps you need to do to complete that task (wet hair, use shampoo, rinse hair, etc.).

Read my favorite book or watch my favorite movie/tv show

Wednesday night, I was feeling particularly anxious. There are a lot of big changes happening in my life in the next few months so recently I've noticed that my anxiety has picked up in severity. I was too anxious to fall asleep so I decided to randomly pick up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and start reading it. Harry Potter is one of my favorite series of all times and it has been a good long while since I read all of the books. Not only did it help calm my anxiety, but I also read four chapters before falling asleep!

Talk to someone

I've mentioned Talkspace on here a few times recently but I seriously cannot tell you enough how valuable a service it has been for me. Not only am I getting the therapy I desperately need but am too anxiety prone to get (seriously, the idea of going to doctor's offices is seriously triggering) but I don't have to wait for scheduled appointment times to talk to my therapist. Even though I downgraded recently to a plan where my therapist only checks in on Mondays, I'm still able to text her AS MUCH AS I WANT every day. It's amazing how much good just typing out a text can do. While I highly suggest giving Talkspace a go, having a close friend you know you can rely on in the times when you're anxious is also an option.

Go for a run or workout

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I have not always been into fitness. I really didn't get into fitness until I was in college and it was actually recommended to me by my therapist at the time. While my depression sometimes makes it difficult to workout, I find that getting my sweat on when I'm feeling particularly anxious is a good way to relieve that anxiety. I can actually tell when I haven't worked out or gone for a run in a while because my anxiety actually gets worse! If you're new to fitness, I have an entire post on workout essentials for beginners!

Do something spontaneous

This tip is actually kind of a wild card but sometimes when I'm feeling really anxious I like to channel that energy into something spontaneous. Whether it's book a flight to somewhere new, trying on a new style of clothing, maybe even doing something to your hair, spontaneity can be a great way to rechannel that anxious energy into something else!