If you've ever had anxiety, you understand how hard it is to manage the symptoms. While they can't always be avoided, it is essential to find the methods to help your mental health. Through my time handling my anxiety, here are five things that have been surprisingly helpful.
1. Blowing bubbles
After winning a giant bubble wand at a charity event, I found out how strangely helpful this could be. Although it sounds bizarre, blowing bubbles makes you think about how you're breathing. To produce better bubbles, you need to take a deep breath that expands your abdomen and sides instead of raising your chest. This subsequently lowers your heart rate, helping you calm down.
2. Busy work
Often my anxiety leads me to feel antsy, like I need to be doing something. However, instead of using this energy to do something destructive, I try to find an easy chore to do while I think through my feelings. By doing something productive while reflecting I end up feeling much less stressed than when I started.
3. Journaling
After years of skeptically listening to others talk about how writing helped their mental health, I finally took out an empty notebook and a colorful pen to try it for myself. Something about writing what you're feeling in whatever way helps you is freeing and incredibly relaxing. When I have an especially bad day, this helps me trace my steps, as I write down everything that's happened from beginning to end.
4. Getting a shower
The shower is one of the best places for me to get some thinking done. After a full day, stepping into the rush of warm water and taking some time to think really helps decrease my anxiety, as I always step out of the bathroom feeling clean and relaxed.
5. Doodling
As an artistic person, finding a way to express myself through doodling or coloring can really help me. Not only do I get to create something beautiful, I get to use my hands which helps to calm me down.
StableDiffusion
StableDiffusion
StableDiffusion
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