Anxiety, that little bitch that causes your head to spiral and spiral until it feels suffocating. How one copes with their anxiety varies, but after trying various techniques and methods, I wanted to share with all of you my top five coping methods I use to soothe anxiety. This doesn’t mean it goes away, but rather brings it back down to a level where I can rationally talk myself down. This is usually the order I follow when my anxiety is at a high level; when it is just mild anxiety, I choose 1-2 of these activities.
1. Go for a Walk
Going for a walk seems to help calm my racing heart. I plug into my music or a podcast and try and focus on what is being sung/said to help keep my mind off whatever is bugging me. I usually go for a solid 45 minute walk and tend to feel slightly better.
2. Take a Hot Shower
The shower is the one place in the world I can go and not think about anything. I opt for a long hot shower where I do the works, wash and deep condition my hair, shave, wash my face…. I also find this useful when I need to clear my mind during exams because I am able to walk out with a clear head.
3. Talk it out with Someone
This is not always easy for someone to do and I understand that. For myself, I find if I can just word vomit everything that is going through my mind to someone I feel significantly better. Just having the weight lifted off my chest by saying what’s on my mind helps. My two best friends are my go to people to talk to. They allow me to say whatever it is I need to say and offer any help/advice/rational they can.
4. Do a Guided Meditation
Headspace has been a saviour for me. It is an app that provides guided meditation (they offer 10 free sessions). I usually will do it laying down in my bed. This one is a difficult one. Sometimes I am able to calm my mind, others I feel like I couldn’t focus on the meditation for the life of me, but there is no such thing as failing a meditation. It is about self acceptance and training your brain to allow those bad thoughts to just come and go, but not spiral. This helps me often when I can’t sleep because my mind won’t shut off.
5. Write
Like I said earlier, talking is a great way to get your worries off your chest. If you’re someone who has a hard time talking to someone, however, then try just writing! Just pour your heart out, just write and write and when it is all off your chest, RIP it up!! It is just another form of getting everything down that is bugging you and you’ll be able to think more clearly once its splayed out in front of you.
I hope some of these coping methods will help soothe any anxiety you might be feeling! Never forget there is always professional help as well.