This Is How I Conquered Anxiety

No one enjoys being anxious. To be forced into the “fight or flight” mode over whether or not you should ask the store clerk where you can find the brown sugar is a terrible feeling. I for one have been struggling with anxiety for years now. It can sometimes prevent me from just going around the corner to pick up my takeout order, or even calling one of my old managers to call out of work. It had an insane grip on my life for several years until I got help.

In my high school days, I always knew anxiety and panic attacks were real, but I never thought that it would have affected me. I was a bit arrogant and stubborn and used to think you had to have a “weak” mindset to experience anxiety, but boy was I wrong. It didn’t take me long to experience my first panic attack when I first started college. Since then it has been a burden on my life until I found natural ways to maintain it and I’m going to tell you what I do daily to do so.

Challenge Your Thoughts.

Anxiety always starts in your mind. Something triggers you to spiral into fight or flight mode.

“What if someone does this to me?”

or

“What if so-and-so happens to me while I go there?”

It’s all just negative thoughts rushing into your head and taking over everything. Once I started challenging these negative scenarios with more positive and happy endings, my anxiety started to ease up a bit. The next time you get a negative thought like that, challenge it.

“What if someone does this to me? What if they don’t, though?”

“What if so-and-so happens to me while I go there? What if nothing happens to me at all?”

“What if I end up having the time of my life, meeting great new folks while I’m there?”

You just have to challenge those negative and sometimes irrational thoughts with more positive, uplifting ones. That alone could make a significant difference in your anxiety.

Sleep.

I can't stress how important it is to get a full night's rest. I noticed on days I was sleep-deprived that my anxiety was at its peak. Being tired and restless just adds to the unnecessary stress. Getting between 7–8 hours of sleep every night is crucial for conquering anxiety.

I understand that for some people it’s a lot harder to go to bed on time with work, school assignments, and even taking care of children and such, but your health is the most important thing to you.

Better Eating Habits

The majority of the time when you feel uneasy you gravitate to what makes you the most comfortable including eating your favorite snacks. Unfortunately, some of those comfort foods could be what’s making it harder to maintain your anxiety a lot harder. Eatin them late at night isn’t helping much either. Eating really late at night can have a negative effect on your circadian rhythm.

I’ve learned that eating sugary and fatty foods regularly can play a huge part in why I’m so anxious all the time. According to Healthline, it’s normal for people to crave foods with high sugars, saturated fat, and even high sodium when they are feeling stressed, but it may also increase the risk of making it worse. So those packs of Oreos you eat every night might be mouth-watering, but they are not helping with your mental health.

I’ve noticed once I started substituting leaner meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts for those foods my anxiety became a little more tolerable. I’m not saying you have to give up your chips and popcorn completely, but be mindful of how often and how late you eat them.

Move Your Body.

Good ole exercise. It doesn’t matter how you do just that you move around enough 4–6 days a week. Exercise does wonders for your mental health, plus your body will thank you later for it as well.

Whenever I felt anxious I would go for a nice stroll around my neighborhood, park, or nature trail. I find walking in nature more soothing. Not only am I in a better state of mind, but being active helps with my anxiety long-term as long as I am consistent with it.

You can exercise however you want. If you are interested in swimming, hiking, playing a sport, lighting weights, or even yoga, any of those are great ways to keep moving and improve your anxiety in the long run.

Meditation.

Breathing. As obvious and simple as that sounds, not a lot of people utilize this the right way. I know I didn’t at first. Meditation and breathing are a huge help in maintaining those anxious thoughts. You can do it wherever and whenever too. Before bed, when you wake up in the morning, in your office during your break, or in your car before your hot date. It’s a great way to clear your mind of all thoughts and relax. It can even help when you are starting to feel an anxiety attack coming about.

Whenever I feel a panic attack starting to surface, I immediately close my eyes and start to take deep, slow breaths for about 30 seconds to a minute, and believe it or not it works about 9.5 times out of 10. Deep breathing helps calm the nervous system, lower your blood pressure, and slow your heart rate down placing you into a calm state.

Meditation is the practice of clearing your mind and keeping yourself calm. The more you practice that, the clearer your mind will be naturally and your anxiety will be no more.

Granted, general anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders can’t necessarily be cured, but it can be controlled to a certain extent. I didn’t like the idea of being on medication for years just to keep my anxiety at bay, so I had to find ways to contain it myself naturally. These are all methods that I found helped me personally and I thought I’d share them with you.

If you struggle severely with an anxiety disorder I would recommend talking to your doctor or a mental health professional first before taking any advice from me.