Tips for When You Are Feeling Anxious

This article will contain some tips about how to reduce anxiety symptoms as well as to help ground yourself back into the present when anxiety wants to carry you far away into the worries and concerns of tomorrow. Finding tools to help reduce your anxiety when you’re feeling anxious can take time and practice to find what works best for you but don’t get discouraged in the process.

Millions of people struggle with feeling anxious. And if you don’t normally struggle with anxiety, you might be experiencing symptoms of anxiety now with everything that is going on in the world today. It is important to understand that anxiety is not bad.

It has a very important function and role in keeping us safe, operating, and moving toward our goals. Sometimes it is helpful to think of anxiety on a continuum.

On one side of that continuum is a level of anxiety that keeps us functioning and caring about productivity and deadlines while also being ready to high-tail it out of the way of any danger. At this level, we function just fine without anxiety negatively impacting or getting in the way of us being able to function well.

On the other side of the continuum, is an ever-present anxiety that stays at uncomfortable levels which makes functioning difficult and makes us feel limited in our ability to get through tasks, relationships, and responsibilities in our daily life.

The tips in this article can be helpful at all levels of anxiety, even those that keep us from being able to get out of bed, hold us back from trying, and keep us stuck in a sense of fear and being overwhelmed. Not every tip may be for you, in fact when trying them, they may create more anxiety.

For example, some people experience an increase in anxiety when they attempt to do deep breathing. If this happens for you, know that it only means that that particular tip is not your tool. Try something else. The hope is to give you options and put you back into the driver’s seat of your own life by providing resources for you to be able to utilize in self-soothing when something becomes overwhelming or too much.

Tips and Tools for When  You’re Feeling Anxious

Many different tools and techniques exist to help you manage and lower your anxiety when you’re feeling anxious. Regulating our breathing can be useful because when we are in fight or flight response, our breathing naturally shallows, which tells our brain that there is danger, thus increasing our anxiety response. Taking a deep breath can help to signal our brain that we are okay so it can reduce the level of stress chemicals the brain releases.

4 X 4 breathing

One example of a breathing tool is a simple 4×4 breathing technique. Take a deep breath in for the count of four. Hold that breath for a count of four. And then releasing the breath for a count of four. And if you want, you can wait four seconds before beginning your next breath cycle.

Take a moment to try this. Sit with your feet planted firmly on the floor and sit up straight to help open up your diaphragm. If you are laying down or out for a walk, just be mindful of your posture, again to help your diaphragm be in a position to easily take deep breathes.

When doing this, even after the second round of breathes your body can begin experiencing the benefit. Your blood pressure can start to reduce, your brain sends out soothing chemicals such as endorphins, and you may be able to feel a bit more in control of what is happening within your body.

The great thing about breathing is that we do it automatically but it also gives us a chance to be intentional and take over. A pause for relaxation through breathing can happen anytime and anywhere and allow us to reduce our anxiety before it gets out of control.

Feel free to make it a part of your daily routine. Set a reminder on your phone to breathe, wake up and start your day with some intentional breathes, and wrap up the day with deliberate breathing to help your body relax when it is time for bed.

Safe Place

Allow yourself to create a place that is always safe and always yours. It is a place you can visit anytime you feel rising anxiety because it is always with you. A mental location that you can visualize as a way to help reduce your stress or anxiety.

Here is how it works. Think of a place, perhaps out in nature that makes you feel happy and relaxed. This could be a meadow, beach, or place in the mountains. Next, close your eyes and begin to create in your mind the details of this place. Place yourself there and hone in on the details.

What do you see in this place? What colors do you see in this landscape? Can you feel the sun shining on your face? Or the coolness of the breeze blowing across your cheek? What would you hear? A rustling of the leaves in the trees or the waves on the beach?

Can you taste anything here? The saltiness of the ocean air, perhaps? Is anyone with you in this safe place? People you trust or perhaps Jesus joins you there just be present with you. You decide. Take some deep breathes here and take it all in. Imagine yourself enjoying this place. A sense of calm, of peace, and of feeling at ease.

Now take a few more peaceful moments in your safe place and memorize the sounds, sights, and sensations of the things around you. Know that you can come back to this place within your mind whenever you need a little break. Create a picture in your mind of this place that is yours to pull up when needed.

When you are ready to return to the next thing in your day, you just file away your safe place in your mind. This place you are imaging will be there waiting for you in the future next time you need a mental vacation.

May sound corny to create an imaginary place, but this is your safe place to utilize when you need a short getaway from the stress or anxiety building in your day. When you feel overwhelmed and need some space, you have a specific place, just for you to take a quick relaxation break whenever you need it.

Other Tips

Managing anxiety is a lifestyle commitment. There are many activities and techniques that you can do to help keep anxiety manageable. Some of these include getting enough sleep and getting daily exercise. Even a brisk walk around your neighborhood is a great place to start. Eating healthy and having habits that consistently fuel your body with nutrition.

Being mindful of your caffeine intake as caffeine is a natural stimulant that can encourage your body to be in a more anxious state. Be creative and get involved with your community, whether friends or family. Have a time of reflection perhaps in prayer and devotion, knowing that God is in control, getting comfort and hope.

Controlling anxiety is more than complex than eating and sleeping well. You can certainly expect ebbs and flows but the overall goal is to experience more of a babbling brook rather than a whitewater rafting ride. A major area of anxiety production is our thought life.

Our thoughts can be powerful. And if you are finding that you’re struggling with your thought life, feel free to reach out to a Christian counselor. A counselor is here and able to work with you to help manage your levels of anxiety.