Dealing with stress is a part of everyday life. But sometimes, this stress can become so frequent that it transforms into an overbearing anxiety that can quite literally affect the quality of one’s day to day.
Here are 3 coping strategies one can practice to better assess their anxiety:
Understanding Anxiety
Research indicates that at least 31.1% of adults in the US experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
What Causes Anxiety
There are various ways that anxiety can manifest, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, OCD, panic attacks, etc.
It's important to seek professional help if an individual feels too overwhelmed and unable to manage on their own. However, there are also several strategies one can employ to ease anxiety and enhance their overall well-being.
Tips for Managing Anxiety
Put an End to Rumination
When an individual is dealing with overwhelming anxiety, they often engage in a mental process known as rumination.
What is rumination?
Rumination is when an individual constantly dwells on anxious thoughts. When rumination takes place, the individual is, in some way or another, practically speaking back to the anxiety-ridden thoughts in their mind.
This may look like replaying an experience, trying to predict an outcome, or constantly attempting to rebuttal the thoughts that are creating the anxiety. This creates a constant loop of anxious thinking throughout the person’s day.
How to stop ruminating
One of the best ways to end ruminating thoughts is to simply not engage with them. Do not dwell in anxious thoughts, but do not try to push them away either.
When you receive an anxious thought, become aware of it, and allow it to exist. Do not speak back to the thought. Do not attempt to force the thought away by acting a certain way or thinking a certain way. Simply allow the thought to come and go.
Putting this into practice makes you slowly become less fearful of your thoughts. You spend less time throughout the day constantly on a loop of rumination. This can significantly decrease the intensity of the individual’s anxiety overall.
Implement Meditation
Meditation is the act of clearing your mind, which can be achieved through various mental and physical techniques. These techniques can enhance calmness and mental clarity within an individual and have been seen to offer deep benefits to the mind and the brain.
What does meditation do to the brain?
Meditation decreases the size of the amygdala, the part of the brain that produces anger, stress, and fear. The decrease in size of this brain structure can benefit individuals by allowing them to approach issues in life in a calmer manner and manage stress/anxiety levels more easily.
Meditation is also seen to increase the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain allocated to memory. The increase in brain structure can benefit individuals by allowing them to have better memory and learning skills.
Advantages of meditation
Although there can be an initial discomfort with beginning this practice, it can slowly be worked through.
An individual can work through this by slowly increasing the time of the meditation practice.
For example, one week, it can be 5 minutes; the next week it can be 10 minutes, and it can slowly increase as the person becomes more comfortable with sitting still.
Developing meditation as a daily habit has been seen to do wonders for those struggling with anxiety, allowing those who are dealing with generalized anxiety disorder to lead less stressful lives.
Meditation is not only for those with anxiety, but it can also be applied to all those who want to develop more focus, calmness, and overall health for their mind and brain functioning.
Although it may be intimidating to sit still while anxious thoughts arise, this is the point. Meditation teaches us that thoughts are just thoughts, we do not have to fear them, and we are able to be the observer of them instead of internalizing them as truth.
Disadvantages of meditation
Meditation can be frustrating, particularly for those with trouble staying still for longer periods. Sitting still can be hard for many individuals since most minds are used to the constant stimulation from television, social media, and the news.
Some individuals may even view meditation to be intimidating because it practically pushes an individual to become aware of their thoughts and sit still with them with no distractions, and this can be scary.
Those who deal with an overwhelming number of anxious thoughts may be opposed to sitting still with them and watching all the thoughts arise in their mind due to the discomfort it may elicit.
Practice Being Present
When an individual is dealing with overbearing anxiety, it is usually because they are worrying about a past or future event.
Constant worrying and concern for the past and the future can keep individuals living in their minds and not able to enjoy the present moment. This can take a big hit to one’s well-being and overall happiness.
How to practice being present
There are many ways one can attempt to be in the present moment.
- Grounding
One way an individual can practice becoming grounded is the 5 4 3 2 1 technique. If anxiety is taking the individual away from the present moment, they can begin by naming 5 things they can see, 4 things they can touch, 3 things they can hear, two things they can smell, and 1 thing they can taste.
The grounding method allows the individual to slowly lead themselves back to where they are and what is going on in the present.
- Go Outside
As simple as this may be, going outside can make a difference in the amount of anxiety someone is experiencing.
Being outside and in nature, especially in sunlight, often allows someone to become calmer instead of the individual sitting indoors and becoming increasingly anxious.
This simple change of environment has offered many benefits when trying to calm the anxiety and become more present.
Navigating the challenges of overwhelming anxiety requires effective strategies to take place to live a calmer and happier life.
While seeking help from a mental health professional is crucial for those struggling to manage their anxiety, incorporating these practical techniques can significantly enhance well-being.
Ending rumination, implementing meditation, and practicing being in the present moment are all great coping strategies for anxiety alongside professional help that can help one combat the overbearing anxiety that they are going through.
