I’m not here to talk about bullshit, because anxiety is real, and it usually sucks. On any given day, anxiety is pretty damn hard to deal with, but being in college isn’t much help. Now we’ve got classes, exams, drama, lack of sleep, small living spaces, responsibilities, clubs, not the best eating habits, broken air vents and general stressful life activities. I ain’t an expert on this sort of thing, I’m not even remotely aware of how the mind works, but I know how mine works so I’m going to share how I deal with high levels of anxiety in healthy ways to hopefully inspire you.
Homework
Maybe no one can relate to me, but I find doing homework to be very helpful when I’m highly anxious because it keeps my mind busy. If I’m anxious about something I have to do tomorrow, I have at least five hours of homework to worry about before I can worry about the thing that’s making me anxious. So if your mind somewhat functions enough when you’re anxious, go ahead and keep your focus on getting things done.
Lists and lists
This mainly happens because of my OCD, but I have many of lists all over the place of things I need to do and how. I have a list on a Google Doc, a notepad on my desk I write occasional lists on and a notepad app on my phone with endless lists. These are helpful if you have to do something that makes you anxious and you don’t know how to do it. For example, you have a job interview Tuesday; make a list that contains all the materials you need to prep, what you’re going to wear, when you’re waking up, when you’re leaving campus and things you want to study beforehand. I have lists right now for my halloween costume, volunteering, spring courses and Her Campus article topics!
ASMR
I tried really hard to jump on the ASMR bandwagon when it got popular recently, but most ASMR, especially the ones of people whispering or eating food, just kind of make me cringe. But I did find some that were nice. Specifically, paint mixing videos are super cool and relaxing, and cooking ASMR. My favorite channel for cooking ASMR is called Hanse, who is a man who lives in South Korea. He makes mainly deserts in his super clean kitchen, doesn’t ever talk, the videos are super relaxing and include awesome food porn.
BOB ROSS
I just mentioned paint mixing, so obviously I love me some Bob Ross. If you haven’t watched The Joy of Painting by Bob Ross, you need to do so immediately. His voice is so calming, he is the funniest, happiest and kindest man ever, and his painting skills are amazing to watch in action. Yes, one second there is a blob of color and another second there’s a lake with trees and mountains, but that’s the fun of it all! Whenever I’m anxious, my cat and I snuggle up with some hot chocolate and Bob teaches us how to paint clouds for hours.
Loud music
You ever just want to use your mind less when you’re anxious? Well this is great for you. All you need is a handy-dandy pair of earbuds, a playlist of your favorite songs and a nice comfy bed. I could stare at the ceiling with the music playing so loud my roommate can hear it late at night to just relax and enjoy the songs of some of my favorite artists. The loud sound takes your focus off real life, and you can just mellow out.
Old favs
Remember that playlist YouTube has called “favorites”? Well, I add a video into there maybe once every six months, so every now and then it’s fun to go through them after I forgot they existed. I once scrolled through my liked playlist to the very bottom and rewatched a number of those as well. It’s another way to take your mind off things while reminiscing on a time when you didn’t feel so damn anxious.
Photos
I, a true Pinterest mom, do spend about four hours on Pinterest collectively every week, and I have a board called “photos I love” for just cool-looking images from photographers, artists or anyone. There’s also this website I love called Artsy, where you can look at art made by any artist that ever put their work online. You can also tune into biddings on art, although I never had enough money to do so. But it’s a great website to find cool art pieces and save them to your profile or discover new artists. Something I love to do with the art pieces I find is re-making quotes. I found a photo of a neon sign that says “Alice, why would you leave Wonderland?” on Pinterest once and I wrote it on a poster with a drawing of a Alice and it’s been on my wall for three years now.
So even if all of these techniques sound like they wouldn’t work for you, I hope this inspires you to find techniques of your own to help you fight your anxiety. A lot of my techniques are creative and organizational, but you can adjust them to be more physical like exercise, or more involved in nature and being outdoors. Make it fitting to your needs to help yourself stay relaxed, focused, and happy.