While dealing with my anxiety early on in college, I literally never thought that I would find anything that would stop it.

Update: I still have anxiety, and I have learned that I probably always will. And that is okay!

Anxiety is a completely normal part of our lives, and can actually be healthy. However, it can also be very crippling and numbing if not controlled in a healthy way. I made this list of my top five methods I use to calm many stages of anxiety in my life; from minor worries to major panic attacks. I hope that at least one of these works for you, or inspires you to explore more ways to bring some calmness and peace back into your life.

1. Notice what your triggers are, and plan ahead when you know you are about to have to face a trigger. An example of this for me is riding in the passenger seat of a car. This past spring I was in my very first car wreck, and it is still something I face when I get in anyone's car. I went multiple months refusing to ride in the passenger seat, because it would cause my anxiety to be so high. I now acknowledge that riding in a passenger seat will trigger anxiety, so I plan accordingly when I know I will be doing so to be prepared for any anxiety that might flare up. When I ride in the passenger seat I always have my essential oils and play uplifting music, and it has greatly helped me have less anxiety on car rides. Knowing an anxiety trigger and preparing for it accordingly not only helped me having much more enjoyable car rides, but has slowly taken away my fear of riding in a passenger seat.

2. Meditation. I once read that if you are good at worrying (AKA me), you can be excellent at meditating. It is simply taking your brain from focusing on the negative to focus on something positive. One of my new favorite parts of the day is to sit in the darkness, be still, and practice meditating. This helps me slow down my breathing, which naturally slows down every single part of my body. Meditating has been the hardest thing for me to nail down, but it has by far been the most rewarding. (If you are unsure of the best way to start meditation, I began by watching YouTube videos that gently guided me to breathe and what thoughts to have.)

3. Do yoga in the morning, at night, or both. This could fall under meditation, because yoga is a way to become more aware of your mind, body, and breath working all together. I love that it focuses me more on being in the present moment, and it is hard for my mind to wander for too long while I am doing yoga. There are so many great yoga videos out there, and many meet specific needs such as anxiety, stress relief, starting your day, etc. This will not only help you clear your mind, but also give your body relief from tension and stress.

4. Read and do your research. Knowledge is power! The more you know about your anxiety, the less scary it seems. I have loved researching how anxiety is caused, methods used to treat it, and experiences that others have had. Just take my word, this is well worth trying!

5. Talk to someone about it. The only comment I have about this is that it truly helps. There is normally a stigma about having mental health problems, which is silly because it is widely common. For me, talking to someone about it was a huge turning point in my healing and growth process.

I hope these tricks better help you cope with whatever mental state you are in this season. You are in control of your mind, and I hope these methods bring power back to your life like it has done in mine.