Tips on How To Cope with Anxiety

Do you ever get really bad anxiety when you get ready for a big event in your life? Does your stomach get all twisted in knots and you feel as if you could fall apart at any moment in time? Well if this does happen to you it's OK. Anxiety is a bitch. There I said it! It's a bitch and honestly it fucking sucks having to feel as if something bad is going to happen when it hasn't even happened yet. For most people who have anxiety, it's an everyday challenge, but there are ways to deal with the stress and fear of anxiety. So here are some tips that I have used that help me and hopefully will help you as well.

1. Listen to music.

Listening to music has been proven to reduce high-functioning anxiety. When you listen to music that soothes you and takes your mind off things, you're less likely to stay worried about the thing you fear the most. I have my music that is just for when I feel anxious about something and it always calms me down.

2. Go exercise.

Whether it's taking a walk, hitting the gym, or doing your own home workout, exercising is a great way to reduce stress or anxiety. By working out, you're relieving all that stress and sometimes sweating it out is the best way to get out what you're feeling.

3. Journaling

For those of you who know me well, you know I love to write in my journal. I always try to journal in the morning and at night before I go to bed. One of my New Year's resolutions is to journal more. Journaling has helped me express my feelings in ways that I can't always express to my friends or family. I have found that sometimes when you write down what you fear the most it can make you realize how ridiculous your fear it and can reduce your anxiety.

4. Changing Your Diet

I know one thing that is common when people get anxious is they tend to stress eat. I know for a fact that when I would start to feel anxious or feel as if everything was falling apart is stress eat. This is normal for a lot of people because the first thing people always resort to to calm themselves is food. This is a bad habit that I am guilty of. This year I decided I wanted to get healthy because I wanted to become more balanced. I realized that the more I ate my feelings, the more horrible I felt about myself because I wanted to be better than that. So I changed my diet. Instead of eating or snacking on food I would drink water. I found out that your body can confuse hunger with being thirsty if you're not careful. So instead of eating all the time, start drinking water. Of course have your regular meals like breakfast, lunch, and dinner and a snack or two, but also be sure to incorporate water into your diet. Water is the best thing for you; it hydrates and keeps your body and energy going. I also found that cutting out soda and junk food has helped me have more energy and feel more relaxed for the day.

5. Listen to your body.

Sometimes when we get an anxiety high, our bodies are trying to tell us something. I know that when I have anxiety or I'm not feeling my best it's my body trying to tell me something. Pay attention to your body because you only have one. Nourish it and love it and it will love you back. Pay attention to how you feel every day and ask yourself, what are you eating? What are you thinking? And how you can change it? If you ask yourself these questions you will eventually figure out what is best for you.

6. Positive Mind, Positive Life

Sometimes it is hard to always be positive. I know that not everyone has control of how they feel because of mental illness and I totally understand because there are days when I feel like a complete failure. But you have the power to change it . Know that you are not your mental illness but that your mental illness is just a little part of you and you have the power to decide whether or not you can control it. If you wake up every day and tell yourself you're a loser and you have no purpose then eventually you will become what you think you are. But if you wake up and tell yourself today is going to be a good day and you are going to be amazing then you will eventually start believing it. When we surround ourselves with a positive environment, we are more likely to think and act positive.

7. Read more and be on the internet less.

My last tip on lowering your anxiety and managing it is to read more and be on the internet less. Sometimes we get so caught up in what other people are doing that it makes us want to do the same. I am also guilty of this. I see people on Instagram living their best lives and while I am happy for them I can also sometimes feel like I should be doing the same. I know it seems silly, but sometimes when you see people who are doing better then you, you tend to get jealous and wonder why aren't you living that way? A way I stop this from happening is turning off my phone and staying off the internet and reading for a couple hours. Reading helps not only because it takes you out of reality, but it relaxes you. Right now I am reading You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero and it has some great tips and amazing self-help tips. I find that if you read more you are more likely to get things done even if it's on an audio book. Reading nourishes the mind and when you enjoy what you're reading, it doesn't feel force and it can also reduce anxiety.

Anyway I hope these tips help and you can put them to good use. But before I end this chapter I want you to know that no matter how bad things may seem, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.