Resolving Anxiety

None of us like feeling anxious. We try all sorts of things to make it go away. We may try to push thoughts away only to find they come back stronger. We may try to distract ourselves, only to find that it’s still waiting for us when we stop. We may put too much emphasis on it saying ‘I’m always anxious’ and find it getting worse.

So what do we do? How can we find a more effective way of managing anxiety?

We need both short term and long term strategies.

Short term

TRY THESE THINGS

  • 1: recognize what is happening to your body
  • 2: go somewhere quiet if you can
  • 3: sit still, close your eyes if possible
  • 4: breathe slowly and deeply – use the i-gro breathing techniques here and here
  • 5: feel your feet on the floor
  • 6: feel the contact with the chair
  • 7: bring your mind back to your body when it wanders
  • 8: visualise your happy place
  • 9: smile

CONSIDER AVOIDING THESE THINGS

  • 1: avoiding the situation [flight]  or allow yourself to be rude or aggressive [fight]
  • 2: posting on social media about how bad you feel – it will make the problem worse
  • 3: feeding the thoughts – telling yourself you feed awful is going to make it hang around longer
  • 4: engaging in safety behaviours, such as smoking, drinking, self harming, or poor relationship choices. These are all behaviours we might choose to make us feel better for a few minutes, but they don’t work and can be dangerous.

Long term

TRY THESE THINGS

Learn Mindfulness
Manage thoughts

CONSIDER AVOIDING THESE THINGS

  • 1: brushing it under the carpet/ignoring the problem – it will probably come back again
  • 2: making excuses for it
  • 3: blaming the anxiety on other people. If others have been unpleasant to you we are not letting them off the hook but you have the power to change your thoughts so that their actions have less impact. [If you have experienced trauma this is also a helpful way to feel more positive, but do make sure you also seek outside help via your doctor. This page may also help you].