Because life should feel manageable
Much of my life has been consumed by worry. When I think about my childhood, I think about the constantly anxious little girl who would cry if her mom wasn’t home the minute she said she would be. I had always thought that the extra worry that plagued each thought was normal. However, when I entered college and it got to the point where I wasn’t even able to leave my apartment, I figured it was time for a change. The need to manage my stress has become a crucial part of my daily routine as stress is what triggers my worst anxiety. Hopefully, if you relate to this article, you can use these ways to manage stress and anxiety as well.Â
1. Yoga
While you have probably heard this everywhere and by everyone. I want to emphasize how important taking care of your body is in stress management. Most of my anxiety manifests itself as chronic pain issues that constantly plague me. While sometimes the pain can be dull, other times I find it hard to move. Yoga has been there to help me work through chronic pain issues and help lower cortisol levels that are the root of that pain. My favorite channel is Yoga With Adriene because she has free yoga videos for every single situation and time duration. Plus her dog Benji is often seen being adorable in the background of her videos.
2. Schedule Downtime
As a college student with 2 jobs and 3 majors, it’s often hard to allow myself to have rest time when I have so much to do. However, I’ve found that in thoroughly enjoying my rest time, I have become even more productive due to my increased energy. Rather than doing homework straight until I go to bed, like I used to do when my anxiety was overwhelming, I often end the night with some tea and an episode or two of Modern Family. The most critical aspect of this downtime is not feeling guilty about it. Stressing myself out about the work I have to do when taking downtime defeats the purpose of said downtime because I feel constantly on edge and no more energized in the morning.
3. Organization
Anyone who knows me knows that I am an organizational queen. Every event in my life is scheduled on a color coded google calendar, all my thoughts are written down on color coordinated sticky notes, and my apartment is always kept very organized. While sticky notes or google calendar doesn’t work for everyone, I implore those who struggle with anxiety to find an organization system that works for you. Since working on my organization, I have found my number of daily life stressors has decreased tenfold. Daily life stressors on top of major life stressors can often be the tipping point from a good day to a very anxious day. By reducing the chaos around me and always staying on top of my activities and classes, I can manage anxious situations before they even happen.
4. Expressing gratitude
Often when I am worrying about something a lot, I focus on all the negative things in my life. However, by regularly expressing gratitude or even thinking about what I’m grateful for, I can shift my mindset to be more positive. I am an extremely lucky person to have such a great support system, such great opportunities, and to attend such a great school. Recognizing what I have is a great way I keep myself grounded in times of stress and worry. This is something that anyone can do anywhere and something that I highly recommend when you find yourself worrying over the negative things in your life.
My life still isn’t worry free and it won’t ever be, but I have come a long way since I was crying when my mom was a minute late to get home. I want to express that there is always a solution to whatever is worrying or stressing you. Doing these strategies has helped manage my stress and I hope that it can help you do the same.