Take Note
8 helpful tips for coping with anxiety
May 18It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and this year’s theme is something we’re pretty sure most of us can relate to: anxiety.
Anxiety is a totally normal human emotion that most of us either have experienced, or still do experience from time to time. Over the last few years especially, it’s no surprise that feelings of anxiety increased by 25%, so it’s incredibly important to find ways to help ease these feelings when they occur.
In honour of this incredibly important week, we’re sharing some helpful tips for coping with anxiety. Whether you’re utilising them yourself, or sharing with a friend you know could do with a helping hand, we hope these following tips for coping with anxiety help…
8 helpful tips for coping with anxiety
1. Don’t underestimate the difference looking after yourself physically can make
Looking after your mental health and your physical health go hand in hand. When you feel anxious, a good night’s sleep, nutritious meals and getting fresh air go a long way to helping keep those feelings at bay.
2. Acknowledge the feelings and remind yourself it will pass
Our first pointer on our list of tips for coping with anxiety is to acknowledge your feelings and remind yourself it will soon pass. It’s important to check in with yourself and recognise when that spiral is happening to help bring you to the surface. A useful thing to remember is these feelings are temporary, they aren’t a part of you, they’re happening TO you. Find some mantras to repeat when these feelings start to take hold.
3. Rationalise your thoughts. It’s the anxiety talking
When feelings of anxiety take over, your thoughts can end up triggering your anxiety further. In this mode you can catastrophize, so put yourself on pause and slow those thoughts down by reminding yourself that what you’re thinking isn’t real, the scenarios aren’t happening and you’re in a safe space.
4. Stop, breathe deeply, and exhale for longer than you inhale
Taking a moment to pause to slow down your breathing can be incredibly useful to ease anxious feelings. Finding a breathing technique that works for you will help you gain control over any spiralling thoughts and can help you feel more present. Why not try the 4-7-8 technique, inhale to the count of four, hold your breath for seven seconds and exhale for eight.
5. Focus on the next small step you can take to feel back in control
Next up on our list of tips for coping with anxiety is to focus on small achievable steps instead of the larger, harder to reach steps. When these anxious feelings strike, thoughts can snowball really quickly into something unmanageable so grab onto something small you can do easily in front of you to feel a sense of control.
6. Share how you are feeling with someone you trust
Finding someone to talk to can really help. Whether that’s a friend, a member of family member or a trained therapist, speaking through how you’re feeling can help you manage the emotions you’re feeling. A friendly voice can help you rationalise your thoughts and can help you better understand what you’re currently thinking on a day-to-day basis. A problem shared is a problem halved!
7. Understand what has caused your feelings to help manage them in the future
A lot of the time there’s something that’s happened to have triggered a bout of anxiety. Calmly reflect on why your feelings have changed and what could have caused this change. Anxiety is your body’s way of telling you something is causing you distress. This will also help you to understand your triggers better and know what to avoid in future situations.
8. Treat yourself with compassion. Remind yourself you are doing ok
Having anxious feelings doesn’t mean you are a failure, remind yourself you are not your anxiety, and these are temporary feelings. Lots of people experience anxiety and you are not alone. Be kind to yourself, you’re doing the best you can.
We hope these 8 useful tips to help cope with anxiety help you or a loved one to manage feelings of anxiety. Please find below useful resources if you’re concerned about your own, or someone else’s mental health.
You can also find a useful summary here to save:
P.S. Be kinder to yourself every day with our self-care weekly planning pad to make yourself a priority.
Leave a comment