Managing Anxiety

2025 has been a tumultuous year already and we’re only in March. So much has already transpired that it is hard to keep track. There’s one thing that sticks with us and has a way of popping up and ruining our mood/day and that is our dear friend, Anxiety. Anxiety is worry and fear of uncertainty as it pertains to an upcoming event or something that we think can cause us harm. However, anxiety has a way of making us ruminate on thoughts that can manifest fear for situations when there is no danger present. For a lack of better terms, anxiety sucks. Everyone goes through bouts of anxiety at least once in their lives; no one is immune to it as it does not discriminate. Some of us may be diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD and that is where we are constantly worrying about many different things and it does not matter what they are or why we are so freaked out by them our minds are going a mile a minute. Here are some tips on how to manage your anxiety:

1. Understand your triggers

Anxiety can be triggered by many stressors including environmental, social and physical. It is important to understand exactly what triggers you. When you do not know what upsets you, that upsets you further because the solution to the problem seems more difficult. Take notice of when you start to get anxious: What is happening around you? What do you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Who is there? What is being said? Jot these things down and from this, you can start to figure out what triggered the anxiety to occur. From there, you will be able to determine whether you need to cope or avert.

2. Cope or Avert

Understand that not every situation deserves an immediate reaction or response. You can take some time to yourself to process and think before handling a situation. Anxiety tends to rev up when we think we must act now when in all actuality, 99% of the time we don’t. In the cases where we do have to act here are some things to do:

• Take a deep breath

• Communicate with the person that you have become anxious and may need a second.

• Distract yourself; some fun things to use are a fidget cube or thinking putty.

3. Shock the system!

When you feel anxiety setting in, you can shock the system in 2 ways:

1. Cold: taking a cold shower (if you can), throwing cold water on your face, or placing an ice pack on the back of your neck can be very helpful. It allows for your mind to relax and focus on the cold rather than the anxious thought.

2. This is an old trick: grab a rubber band, place it around your wrist, and give yourself a big POP! Lift the rubber band about 3-4 inches and release. You can repeat this up to 5 times, but no more, after that, you can cause damage to your skin.

4. Rational or irrational? (This is a long one)

This exercise is really helpful in determining whether the anxious thought is rational or irrational. Here’s how to do it: Grab a piece of paper and write out your anxious thoughts.

• Then, write out the evidence you know/have that proves the thought correct.

• On a separate line or the other side of the paper, write out the evidence against the thought.

• Which side has more evidence, for the thought or against it? If there is truly more evidence for the thought, then it is rational. If there is more evidence that disproves the thought, then it is irrational. Run this info by a friend or someone that you are comfortable with so they can confirm.

• Finally, re-frame the thought into something more positive.

Here’s what this could look like:

Is this a rational thought: NO.

Positive thought: Though this is a concerning period and the world is struggling right now due to COVID-19, we are coming together and trying our best to push through. We will make it through this.

5. Reduce information consumption

If you are one of those people who likes to watch the news or read every article that comes across your social media feed, try to limit the amount of information that you are taking in. Too much information at any given time can be overwhelming, especially when the information is negative. Try only checking/reading/watching the news once per day, or once every other day, whichever is best for you. Change the settings on your phone and social media so that articles can stop being pushed to your device.

6. Manage stress

Stress can exacerbate anxiety symptoms. The best way to manage stress is to take notice of when you are starting to feel the physical, mental, emotional, and physiological signs of stress and take a break from whatever it is you are doing. As noted before, not everything needs an immediate response or reaction, so taking some time for yourself is perfectly OK. Here, is a great place to use distraction techniques! (discussed below).

7. Grounding exercises

These are helpful when you feel an anxiety/panic attack coming on or when generally overwhelmed. Grounding is a fancy way of saying being present in the moment. A lot of grounding exercises have you focus on the 5 senses and being aware of your body. Check out this website for some exercises: https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding-techniques

8. Mindfulness meditation/Guided Meditation

Meditation is a great way to calm down both your mind, body, and spirit. I prefer guided meditation as there is a voice providing you with a scenario in which you are to focus on; plus, it feels less silly and cliché than sitting and saying “ommmm.”

9. Distract Yourself

Distraction techniques are unique in the way that they can be whatever you want them to, if you are engaged and enjoying the activity. The point is to distract yourself from the anxiety-producing thought. So, do something you enjoy doing such as arts and crafts, exercise, cooking, chatting with friends, or playing with a doggo. Pick back up with something you used to enjoy doing but noticed that you stopped doing and bask in the greatness of doing that activity again.

10. Good a good night’s rest!

Sleep is so important as not enough sleep can worsen existing mental health conditions or create new ones. Please view the “Sleep Hygiene” post for tips on how to improve your sleep!

11. Medication or supplements

If the anxiety is too bad, it may be time for medication. Please, talk with your PCP about medication options and natural supplement options. ALWAYS talk to your PCP before starting new medication or supplements. Some things can have drug to drug interactions, absorption issues if not used properly or cause negative side effect. On the other hand, if you do not want to explore meds just yet, you can try some natural supplements that can help. Brands such as OLLY and Hum have gummies for stress relief and are used to help people calm down. Magnesium glycinate can also be used to calm the body down, and you can purchase this at any retailer or online shop. If you find that this is not working either, you can try CBD tinctures without Sativa or CBD gummies. CBD is really helpful in calming the body down as well as providing pain relief. CBD gummies are primarily sold in dispensaries, check your local area for locations and pricing. s.

12. Be KIND to yourself

I think this gets overlooked way too much. We as humans are our worst critics. Understand that it is OK to be anxious and this happens to everyone, you are not alone in feeling this way. Take pride in the moments where you can break or distract yourself from your anxious cycle. Identify what you are grateful for that day, what goals you achieved, no matter how big or small, and pat yourself on the back. Anxiety can be debilitating. The fact that you were able to get up and fight through your brain being wild and telling you unnecessary things is a major win! Go easy on yourself, you got this!

TiL next time, stay safe and clean. Peace ☮