Like most of the world, I have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder is a condition where you have a frequent, persistent, and excessive worry or fear about everyday situations, like going to get your mail or any social activity (source). Over 19.1% (that’s 40 million adults ) have this disorder(source). I have had this disorder all my life. I remember panicking about going to school the next day or making a joke and freaking out because one person didn’t laugh. It’s a thing for me, now that I’ve been diagnosed and have tried some ways to cope with it I thought it would be nice to share with you and it might be able to help you in your day-to-day life.
Understand that no one is thinking about you.
Like I said in my post about Combating Loneliness (read it here) other people have things going on. I know it’s hard to understand, but think about your last encounter with a stranger. How long did you think about the other person afterwards? You probably forgot all about them and focused on what you were like and they probably did the same.
Don’t Trigger It
I know this kind of depends on what your anxiety is but if you have a fear of people, maybe don’t listen to podcasts about people killing one another. I have an entire post about how those podcasts can mess you up you can read it here. If you get anxiety about food don’t watch food documentaries about how some or most foods are bad for you. Etc.. Etc… don’t trigger your issues.
Get Out Of Your Head
Sometimes, no matter what you do it happens you have an anxiety attack or you feel one coming. Try reading a book or some signs around you, start counting, remove yourself from the situation or call a friend and have them vent to you. Yes, call your friend, tell them you need to get out of your head and ask them what’s going on with them and let them get something off their chest, you’ll eventually forget what you were going off about.
Stay Busy
So many people are against this method but it works and let me tell you why. The ideal mind is the devil’s playground. When you’re sitting stagnant your brain gets bored and it starts going on and on about things that don’t exist or matter. If you fill your mind and time with hobbies and things you enjoy ( not just throwing yourself into work) you’ll not only get out of your head but you’ll find things you enjoy. As well as more coping habits that you wouldn’t know if you just sat there continuously processing.
I hope that this helped you and gives you some options to help with your anxiety. Stay well and I’ve also recently joined Twitter @alilhippieish so check me out all hippies welcome!