Anxiety can make you feel like you are the only one who is shaky or fearful. Yet, anxiety affects everyone, particularly when there is a real or perceived threat. In fact, almost everyone wants to flee when scared.
Persistent anxiety, just like other conditions, can disrupt your life. It can lead to loneliness, stress, and unemployment, particularly when it happens when there is no actual threat. However, just like any other condition, anxiety is treatable. It is possible to overcome anxiety and live a fulfilling and happy life.
So, the question you and many other people ask is how do you heal anxiety? Well, many people depend on medication. However, you can take a more natural and holistic approach to cure anxiety. It is important to remember that what works for another person might not work for you.
In this article, you are going to learn how to treat anxiety using various techniques.
1. Change negative self talk
Self-talk is anything you say to yourself when responding to a problem or situation. Self-talk boosts anxiety because it affects your mood and feelings. What’s more, self-talk happens involuntarily.
So, you will rarely notice it. Self talk makes you believe that what you are feeling is due to what is going on around you. It reinforces avoidance and initiates a panic attack.
Therefore, you need to start been accountable for your feelings and thoughts. Learning how to counter your negative self-talk is important. Recognizing your negative self-talk and replacing it with positive statements is a good starting point.
To make your positive statements more valid, it is important that you ask yourself rational questions regarding your negative self-talk. Opposing negative selftalk is all about assessing the validity of things you say to yourself.
For instance, if you believe that you must get a distinction in all papers, you can ask yourself whether you are being objective. Is getting distinction in all papers very important? What is the worst that could happen if you do not get distinctions?
A counterstatement for the above thought pattern is that you do not need to get a distinction in each paper to make it in life. You can purpose to go on with your academics and life regardless of the kind of marks you get.
The idea is to write counter-statements and stick them up at a place you will be seeing them daily. Reading those counterstatements regularly can also help to make them more real.
2. Meditate: Breathing exercises
Another tip for relieving anxiety forever is to practice meditation. Meditation helps to calm down your overactive mind. It prevents you from consuming your time with unproductive and fearful thoughts.
Practicing mindfulness meditation enables you to enjoy and focus on each moment as it occurs. It removes your focus on what you fear or what you expect should happen.
To begin meditating, you need to concentrate on what is happening in the present moment. The concentration needs to be deliberate, curious and non-judgmental.
What’s more, you need to ask yourself simple and silent questions during the deep breathing exercises. As you ask yourself questions, focus on your breath. How does it feel as your breath enters and leaves your body?
To practice meditation with ease, sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes.
3. Work with a professional counsellor
The next best way of treating anxiety is through anxiety counselling. When combined with self-help information, personal counselling can do wonders in resolving anxiety. This combination can have long-lasting results.
It is possible to reduce anxiety symptoms on your own, but the results might not be temporary. Working with a professional counsellor is important. He or she helps you to recognize the hidden causes of your anxiety.
A trusted anxiety therapist works with you to eliminate problems that are responsible for your anxiety. This helps to ensure that the problems do not resurface or go undetected. An experienced and licensed anxiety counsellor ensures that you achieve and maintain good psychological health.
In addition, counselling helps to develop your self-esteem. Your therapist will help you deal with your shame and self-doubt. What’s more, you also get to learn tips on how to communicate effectively more so if you suffer from social anxiety.
Anxiety counsellor also ensures that you have the emotional support and reassurance that you need to recover fully from anxiety. However, should you feel that your therapist is not helping; you can always seek help from a different therapist.
4. Sleep well
Lack of sleep can initiate or worsen anxiety. It is advisable that you get quality and adequate sleep. In addition, how well you sleep tends to determine how well you can handle anxiety.
You need to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. However, the quality of sleep is important than that quantity of sleep. So, having high quality and uninterrupted sleep for about six hours can also help to cure your anxiety.
But, how do you improve the quality of your sleep? Well, there are certain steps that you can take to make your sleep better. For instance, you need to pay attention to the things you consume. Some foods, medications and drinks can affect your quality of sleep.
To sleep well, you need to avoid eating too much food before bed. You also need to limit your caffeine and alcohol consumption. Other things you can do include, exercising, using relaxation techniques to calm your mind, limiting the time you spend on electronic devices such as TV, Ipad and laptop.
Having a regular sleep schedule can also ease your anxiety symptoms. You should also avoid daytime naps because they disrupt your nighttime sleep patterns. A regular sleep schedule, soothing music and a warm bath can also ensure that you have quality sleep.
5. Supportive social network
A supportive network is critical for anxiety recovery. Playing and spending time with friends and family helps to manage anxiety. Interacting with people who make you feel okay about your anxiety struggles is important.
In addition, your friends and family can help you to deal with the difficulties you are going through. What’s more, they help you to look at anxiety-causing situations in a different way.
Close family and friends ensure that you feel less angry about situations. What’s more, talking to someone who understands, listens and cares can ease your nervousness and worry. They can help you cope.
So, it is important that you distance yourself from people who make you feel guilty or ashamed. What’s more, it is important to avoid interacting with people who never accept that you have anxiety.
Parting Shot!
A good way of keeping your mind off the worry is to think about positive, beautiful and good things. If you use the above tips, you will certainly start appreciating the small, everyday blessings in your life. What’s more, learn how to replace negative statements with positive statements.
