How to Get Through Each Day With Crippling Anxiety

When you have anxiety, facing each day can be a challenge. You might feel like hiding yourself away to avoid fear and stress. But you still need to work, and you want to spend time with those you care about. While each person's experience is unique, there are some measures you can take to understand and manage your anxiety.

Develop Coping Strategies

For generalized anxiety, meditation and deep breathing may help. Anxiety is often the result of the natural fight-or-flight response your body produces in the face of perceived threats. Meditation, especially accompanied by deep breathing, can calm your body as well as your mind. It lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, relaxes your muscles, and produces alpha and theta brainwaves, which are naturally calming.

For others, exercise works better in relieving anxiety. A vigorous workout burns off nervous energy and fills your body with endorphins, which create a sense of well-being. Be sure to eat healthy and practice a regular sleep schedule.

Know Your Triggers

As you learn to live with anxiety, you should get to know what triggers the worst feelings. Trauma can be a major trigger for anxiety. The effects of past trauma can linger for years, and the smallest reminder can cause a panic attack.

Keeping a journal can help you pinpoint your triggers. You may discover your anxiety is linked to patterns of specific situations, behaviors, or people. When you know what may cause you to have anxiety, you can implement coping strategies in advance.

Rehearse the Situation

Many people with anxiety find it helpful to mentally rehearse situations that trigger them. If you're worried about a meeting or a social event, envision what will happen, who will be there, and what people might say or do. You can imagine yourself successfully navigating whatever you have to face.

Rehearsing can also replace negative self-talk with positive scripts. Learn to stop those thoughts that pop into your head saying "I can't" and "I'm not." When you mentally practice saying "I can" and "I am," you are creating connections in your brain that make these thoughts easier to access.

As you learn to manage your anxiety, you'll likely have good days and days that you struggle. But by practicing physical and mental self-care, you should see improvements. You don't have to let anxiety keep you from doing what you want.

Check out this article on how to make it easier to fall asleep at night!