Anxiety Taking Over

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressures, sweating, dizziness, accelerated heart rate, stomach aches, headaches, and nausea. Anxiety means you are constantly worried about something and can even have intrusive thoughts or concerns. People experience anxiety to a certain degree; it is what helps us stay motivated and focused but too much anxiety can cause us discomfort.

It’s hard to say one thing causes anxiety because it depends on the individual, their thoughts and the specific situations. Our thoughts play a big role on our day to day lives because we can get wrapped up in overthinking about everything, questioning every move, wondering what we could have done differently and thinking about the worst-case scenario. It keeps us up to all hours of the night, refusing to stop. We may even wake up feeling anxious and unsure of why. But if we keep pushing through the small things that continue to add on stress and anxiety, our body find ways of telling us that we need a break.

These anxious thoughts make it more difficult to put ourselves in unfamiliar situations or if we had one bad experience, we replay that and believe every encounter will be the same. Anxiety can prevent us from becoming our full potentials professionally and personally. It can make us feel isolated or make us major people pleasers. Either way it hinders our growth.

So how can we change these bad habits and reduce anxiety? 

• Grab a journal and jot down the thoughts that keep replaying in your head and write out what you are feeling. It doesn’t have to be a beautiful essay, it can be bullet points! Writing things down helps you get to know your triggers. IS it work, school, family, friends or significant other? Once we get things down on paper we get to see things in a different perspective.

• Exercise Regularly, whether that’s practicing yoga, going out for a walk, hiking or engaging in other physical activities. You can even alternate activities to help you stay motivated.

• Take some time for yourself. Drink some relaxing tea, read a book, listen to music, or watch your favorite show.

• Practice deep breathing

• Count to 20 slowly. I prefer counting by “Mississippi’s.”

• Limit alcohol, sugars and caffeine. These can trigger anxiety.

• Start and end your day with gratitude.

• Talk to people around you. Tell friends or family how you are feeling and if that isn’t an option then reach out to a therapist.