Powerful Tips To Make Dealing With Anxiety Easy!
Dealing with anxiety isn’t easy. I know as I’ve suffered with it in the past. You can get into a cycle of fear and worry that’s never ending. It was only after I had a stroke two years ago that I realised the consequences it can have on your health.
Fortunately my stroke was fairly mild, and I’m back to good health again. I made a quick recovery, but vowed never to let anxiety damage my health again.
What cause anxiety?
There are many reasons why you may develop anxiety. Some of which need to be treated with medication and therapy, but many are caused by a build up of negative thoughts in the mind.
These can be a result of things going wrong, that you’ll fear will happen again, or traumatic events like the death of a loved one.
Everyone is different, and their reasons for being anxious will be different. Whatever’s caused your anxiety, you can take control and manage it.
No two people are the same, and what works for one person may not work for you. The important thing here is not to give up, and know that you’re not alone. Anxiety is a very common problem in today’s modern world.
Just try the tips I suggest, and stick with them for at least 30 days. Anxiety can be managed by taking the right steps
Change your thoughts
One of the main causes of anxiety is negative self talk. You may not even be aware how negative your thoughts have become, as they become habit after a while.
We all have thousands of thoughts going through our minds each day. Many are random nonsense, but this constant mental chatter never stops while you’re awake.
Some are comments to yourself, some are reactions to conversations you hear, and some are thoughts about what someone said to you. Others are just ongoing chatter about what you’re doing, and mental planning.
Some of these thoughts will be negative and the problem is, if you entertain them and allow them to stay, they can very quickly become habit. If you allow negative thinking to become habit it can shape your life.
By this I mean if you keep telling yourself you’re going to fail at something, eventually the chances are very high that you will.
You may be taking action to achieve whatever it is that you want, but negative beliefs can lead to self sabotage. You may argue and say that you’re putting in the effort, so how can that be sabotage.
However, you’ll make mistakes, or make the wrong decisions. This can lead to failure, and you’ll tell yourself you were right all along! It’s like you expected to fail and made it happen!
You fail your exams, your car breaks down, you lose your job etc. All these things you subconsciously expected to happen.
Anxiety can become worse when things go wrong. Your negative beliefs and poor results lead to anxiety, and this in turn causes you to make more bad decisions. You see, you’re creating a viscous circle here, and you need to break it.
So how can you do this?…..
Changing negative thoughts with affirmations
Changing your negative thoughts can take time, especially if they’ve become ingrained. Affirmations can work, but if you’re just mindlessly chanting them, while your core belief is negative, you’ll have a hard time believing them.
For example if you keep telling yourself money is flowing into your life, but you don’t believe this is possible, how can you expect the affirmation to work?
If you imagine you’re going to end up on the streets penniless, with no money to pay your rent, then no matter how many times you say those words it will be like you’re telling yourself a lie
You have to tailor your affirmations to what you really believe at this time. Then gradually as you see an improvement reflect that in your affirmations.
You’ll find plenty of affirmations online, or just create your own. But remember you need to be realistic.
Being mindful
Mindfulness works by simply becoming aware of your thoughts. You do this by focusing on the moment, and paying attention to your thoughts and feelings. You’ll soon find any negative ones, and can replace them with positive ones.
The best way to deal with a negative thought is to challenge it. For example if you keep telling yourself you’re useless and deserve to be alone. Think of all the things you’ve achieved, and people you’ve helped. However small, most of us show acts of kindness without really noticing.
That smile you gave you gave the stranger on your way to work, or how you held the door open for the harassed looking young mother with a toddler.
It’s easy to overlook achievements, and anxiety can make you focus on what you can’t do, rather than what you can do. You may feel anxious that you can’t keep up with your colleague at work.
You fear losing your job, but you overlook your unique strengths you bring to the team. These may be highly valued, but you just can’t see that.
Focus on your breathing to stop anxiety attacks
If you’ve ever had an anxiety attack you’ll know that your breathing becomes shallow. You’re taking in short rapid breaths which is giving you too much oxygen. Don’t breathe deeply if you’re having a panic attack as you’ll make it worse and you may feel feint.
Instead slow down your breathing by breathing in for 5 seconds and breathing out for 2 seconds.
Mindfulness meditation can help you become aware of your breathing, and there are exercises to help you de-stress and calm down very quickly.
Once you start to change your pattern of thought you’ll feel far less anxious, and your feelings of panic will lessen
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my article on dealing with anxiety, and that it’s shown you that YES, you can overcome it. Please share if you’ve found this useful 🙂
Take care:)
Kathy
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