Anxiety is something we all deal with on some levels. While some people have more anxiety than others, it’s not something we as human beings can avoid entirely.
Anxiety for those who may be a bit confused is an intense feeling of worry, stress, nervousness, or in many cases dread. Naturally, we have the occasional experience with it but if you’re facing anxiety attacks all the time and struggling to do certain things you may be facing some kind of anxiety disorder. The more anxiety you have the more it can and will disrupt your life according to Psychology Today.
If you have some kind of anxiety disorder please know that you are not alone. Anxiety and depression are the two most common mental illnesses and more people than you could ever imagine struggle with them on a daily basis. One of the best ways to handle your anxiety properly is to understand it. What kicks your attacks off and how do they affect you?
Once you’ve managed to figure out some of the basic things about the disorder you have, you can work to stop anxiety attacks on some levels. Sure, you’ll still have them some but you can through working with yourself manage them a lot more properly. Below I am going to go over some of the best tips I’ve come across when it comes to anxiety and anxiety attacks in general. These work wonders for me.
9 Tips That May Help Stop An Anxiety Attack:
1. Focus on your breathing.
When you’re getting worked up your breathing techniques can come in handy. The more focused you become on your breathing the less freaked out you become. While it might take a little while to get this one right, it is a great tool.
2. Do something that you know helps you relax.
If you feel like you’re headed for an attack try to do something that makes you feel relaxed. For me, it is coloring but for you, it could be something else entirely. I just keep a coloring book and some crayons in my bag with me and when I feel like I’m getting worked up I color.
3. Expose yourself on your own time of your own free will.
If you want to work through what causes you the most anxiety then you can make the choice to expose yourself to exactly that on your own terms. Doing this over time can help reduce your overall anxiety levels as a whole when in those specific situations.
4. Work to decatastrophize.
Not everything is as bad as we make it out to be. Sometimes we can downplay things within our own minds to make them more tolerable and thus work our way out of a panic attack or anxiety attack depending on what disorder we have. Reminding yourself that it’s not the end of the world might be a small thing to do but it can help.
5. Give yourself some space.
If you need to remove yourself from a specific situation, do it. Don’t stand there and suffer through it if you don’t have to. Let yourself calm down a bit and then come back.
6. Use counting to take your mind off of the anxiety you’re feeling.
Though this may not work for everyone if you’re able to distract yourself with silent counting you may be able to get through the situation you’re most anxious about. Count from one to one hundred slowly and see if it makes any kind of difference for you. It might be what you need.
7. Accept the situation before you.
When you’re about to have or in the middle of having some kind of anxiety attack stop fighting it and accept the situation. For some of us, this is all we can do. Instead of focusing on the fear you’re experiencing focus on the things that are happening within your body. The more aware you are the quicker it will go by, at least in some cases this is true.
8. Distract your mind, if you can.
If things are a bit much for you, try to take your mind off of them. Think of something else and keep your thoughts off of it. I know, this is easier said than done but the more you work at it the better you will be at accomplishing exactly that.
9. Don’t drink things or eat things that put you more on edge.
While you might think that an energy drink or cup of coffee might help you loosen up, it could do the opposite. Everyone reacts to this kind of thing in their own ways and they rarely ever help those with anxiety. You don’t want to be consuming something that’s going to make you more on edge.