Ten Ways to Deal with Anxiety Today

Let’s have a quick refresher on anxiety.

Why?  Because I feel like people are very much on edge these days and may be suffering.

What is anxiety?  It’s a type of fear.  Worry and unease.  Stress and tension.

The first thing I want you to remember is that everyone has anxiety.  It is perfectly normal.

You are normal if you are experiencing anxiety.  It’s part of being a human.

People who never experience fear are abnormal.

And if they  act like they don’t’ have fear they are probably faking it.

Anxiety is hard wired into our physiology.  As much as we like to think we are the epitome of evolution, we’re not.  We’re slightly more intelligent apes.  We are operating off a million-year-old operating system that was not designed to cope with the modern world.

Fear kept our ancestors alive, and indeed, anxiety can still serve as a directional input for you today.  But only if you stop to understand why it is there and what it is trying to warn you of.

Living in a constant state of worry or anxiety is debilitating.  It’s not healthy.  It prevents you from showing up as your best self.  Not only do you suffer, but the people you interact with suffer and society as a whole suffers from your lack of contribution.

Let’s review some of the methods of dealing with anxiety.

(And here I need to pause and tell you that I am not a doctor or a psychologist or in any way qualified to practice or prescribe – if you are in a position of hopelessness or potential self-harm call a professional).

With that disclamer, here are some ways I and the people I know, deal with chronic anxiety.

1. Avoid those things that are making you anxious. Maybe you can’t avoid your idiot boss or your toxic family member (although it’s worth asking that question) but you can most definitely turn off the news and take a break from the shouting angry voices of social media.

Do it.  Take a break.  Engage in an information fast and fill that extra space with self-work and give yourself an opportunity to rebalance.

2. Give yourself the gift of better habits. This takes two forms.  First, in times of stress we sometimes reach for comforting things like food or drugs or television or alcohol.  That is a temporary solution and steals happiness from the future.  Be very cautious of sliding into those habits when you are stressed.

But DO engage in a 30-day habit that will help you heal.

I find morning routines are particularly helpful in setting the tone for the day.  Most successful people have a morning routine. Get up, use that time to meditate, or walk the dog, or read, something that will renew you.  It doesn’t need to be complex.  A 10-minute meditation can change your whole day.

Go beyond the point solution.  Commit to the practice for 20-30 days.  Consistency has a great power to bring permanent change.

3. Focus on the now. Be present.  Even if you are suffering, be present in the suffering.  Look at it and see it for what it is.  Don’t focus on the dire consequences of future events over which you have no control.  Stop worrying about past wrongs that are done and gone. All you have is now.  Be present.
4. Stop worrying about things that are out of your control. You can only manage you and how you respond to things.  You are not responsible for everything else.  It is hard to parse that out in a world that seems determined to tell you about every horrible thing and outrage.  Repeat after me, “That is out of my control.  My responsibility is to manage myself.”
5. Focus on the beauty in the world. When was the last time you looked at a sunrise or a sunset?  When was the last time you stopped to listen to the birds singing?  Stop thinking and observe the simple and wonderful world around you every minute of every day.  Feel the joy of life.
6. Take care of yourself. You may have many people depending on you, but they are depending on you to show up healthily.  Take the time for yourself and don’t feel guilty about it.  It is a necessity not a whimsy.
7. Get your runs in. Or whatever your exercise of choice is. Running has saved many lives.  We are an integrated animal, and we need the physical habits as well as mental to show up as a whole, healthy person.
8. Interact and engage with people who make you feel good. Don’t allow yourself to be isolated in your suffering.  Get out.  Meet people.  Talk to them.

Be choosy in who you interact with though – because some of that interaction may be the cause of your anxiety. Find those people who make you feel safe and loved and talk to them about the yellow of the daffodils and the blue of the sky and the sharpness of the wind.

9. Help others. Understand that everyone you meet is suffering in their ow way and a kind or encouraging word from you can change their life.  Be the hope that the world needs and that will return to you as a bounty.  Love is the secret.  We are all part of the same experiment here folks.  Let’s try to lift each other up.  To have the strength to respond with kindness.
10. Project hope. No, seriously, in the face of all the doom and gloom and catastrophe be subversively hopeful.  That takes real courage.  Expect everything to be ok.  Insist that the best days are coming.  Fill the world with your hope.  You want to be a leader?  To make a difference?  You want to do something useful?  Valuable?  And hard? Be stubbornly hopeful.

My heart to your heart, my friends.