Sometimes you either worry about things that probably won't happen, or that you have no control over. In most cases, that's called anxiety, and everyone has it to some extent. Unfortunately, some people have disorders that make their anxiety ten times worse.
That sounds like a death sentence, but there are actually plenty of ways to manage your anxiety. It's possible to live a healthy, stress-free life as long as you can establish a reliable routine. Here are five different ways to get started.
Practice Meditation
The whole concept behind meditation makes it the perfect way to relax an anxious mind. Meditation involves using mindfulness to root your mind in the present and focus on what's important. Living in the moment is also a great way to distance yourself from the apprehension clouding your mind.
There are a whole bunch of different meditation techniques to try out, so you're bound to find one that's perfect for you. Nearly all of them are great for mindfulness, and most of them have additional benefits too. They're easy to do and only take a few minutes of your time. A lot of them also double as breathing exercises, which have always been great at treating anxiety or panic attacks.
Journaling
Anxious feelings can be hard to make sense of. They're messy and toxic, which makes it that much harder to distance yourself from them. A good way to work through them is to write them down. They're way easier to break down once they're somewhere other than in your head. You may think you understand what your thoughts are telling you, but you never really know until you've properly analyzed them. That's what journaling is for. It's a great stress relief technique that involves spending only a few minutes to jot down the difficult events affecting your life. Seeing your biggest concerns recorded on paper can make a world of difference when managing them. The writing process helps relax you too. Don't even worry about proper grammar or sentence structure, just go wild. Let it all out.
Get Lost in Your Surroundings
An easy practice to ease anxiety involves counting the things around you. Count how many trees there, how many stuffed animals are in your room, how many people there are in a group - it doesn't matter what you count as long as you're focused on it instead of your thoughts. The point is to draw your attention away from the anxiety until it fades away. Sometimes, all you need to combat anxiety is a good distraction. The more senses you can incorporate into the distraction, the better. List off the things you can see, the objects you can touch, what you can smell, and so on. Your anxiety has no power over you once you stop feeding it. Ignore it, and eventually, it might just go away.
Go for a Walk
One of the most common pieces of advice for just about anything is to go for a walk. It's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. Going for a walk when you've got something on your mind is a great way to work through it and get back on track. Any form of exercise will usually help relieve mental stress. Getting physically active is a good way to ease stress and make it easier to focus. It strengthens the mind as well as the body. Since walking is a form of exercise, it's great at ticking a whole bunch of stress relief boxes at once. It forces you to live in the moment, strengthens your mental fortitude, and exposes your senses to plenty of distractions.
Talk to Someone
This is another method that involves getting your thoughts out of your head. Talking to someone else about what's making you anxious is a great way to relieve stress. It'll feel like getting a huge weight off of your chest. Not to mention that hearing what you're worried about spoken out loud can change how you feel about it. You might realize how little it actually matters. Finding someone to talk to shouldn't be too hard. Just ask one of your friends or family members if you can talk to them about something. As long as they're understanding, you should be fine. They don't even have to offer any advice. Just holding a conversation about what's wrong is good enough.
In Conclusion
There's no absolute cure for anxiety. It's not the kind of thing you can permanently get rid of. But that's okay because there are so many ways to manage it. Just pick one or two routines that work for you and stick to them.
Don't ever feel like a burden because of your anxiousness either. Everyone has dealt with it at some point. There's no shame in seeking help for something you have little control over.