So, I saw my last post on beating anxiety seemed to be useful to people - I really hope it was. God knows I would have wanted someone to say all of those things to me when I was dealing with anxiety.
Now, this part two is stuff that helps on a day-to-day basis, not just for when your anxiety is really bad and you're having a panic attack. If you want to know how to deal with a panic attack you'd be looking for my other post. This is the stuff that is particularly useful for when you're at the point where you're starting to get better and just get bursts of moderate anxiety. This is best when you're not having panic attacks daily or bursting into tears for no apparent reason.
Seriously though, the bursting into tears thing, that happened to me several times. It was when I had just developed my anxiety and those of you who were following the blog or who have read my previous posts will know that I developed quite severe anxiety very quickly because of an issue with my heart. I fell down a rabbit hole, seriously, like some Alice in Wonderland stuff. Anyway, I was having panic attacks almost daily and several times I just burst into floods of tears, and it wasn't even triggered by anxiety. Wasn't even the surprise anxiety that jumpscares you just for a laugh. I think I was just so exhausted by it all. Anxiety seriously tires you out, though.
Anyway, tangent over, back to the topic.
1) Yoga/ Meditation/ Literally any mindfulness stuff
Okay, before you say anything, I'm not joking. It helps. Trust me. I was sceptical too; God knows I hate meditation. I can't keep quiet. I promise you I'm as rambly in real life as I am on my blog. But I do partake in little bits of yoga and meditation and I'm working on building yoga into a daily routine. It helps to relax you and clear your mind and there are even yoga poses that can help the health problems that can come with anxiety. Believe me, you're going to wish you'd done yoga when you can't move your shoulders because you have so many knots in your back. It happens.
I've been advised to do this by professionals too, so I promise I'm giving you genuine advice. Even if you think you'll hate it, just try it once a day. Do a bit of yoga when you wake up or take five minutes to do some meditation. You'll be surprised where you can find five minutes in a day.
2) Sleep well
Honestly, I know this is the solution to everything, but better sleep is vital for dealing with anxiety. Sometimes you don't sleep at all at night when you have anxiety and the amount of pure adrenaline that courses through your body when you're struggling with anxiety can tire you out. When your body flushes with that much adrenaline you have a lot of energy until you're not full of adrenaline anymore, which is when you start to feel tired. If you don't sleep right you basically switch between anxiety and zombie-mode. So establish a solid sleeping routine. Count sheep. Surround yourself in lavender or something. Not sleeping makes anxiety a whole lot worse.
3) Exercise
Again, another piece of obvious-sounding advice, I suppose, but I can't stress it enough. All of that adrenaline in your body needs to be released somehow. Adrenaline triggers a flight-or-fight response so, basically, it's released by some sort of physical activity. It's released when you've successfully run away from (or fought) the rampaging bear or aggressive swan (seriously, though, they're scary) so the best solution is to do some running or cycling or any kind of physical exercise. Exercise doesn't only help get rid of adrenaline, it releases endorphins, which make you happy. And it helps you to clear your mind and relax your body. So go for a run, listen to some music. It'll help.
4) Keep doing the things you enjoy.
It's all too easy when you're suffering from anxiety to lose interest in the things you normally really enjoyed. I lost interest in the blog for a long time when I was at my worst, and I'm sorry about that. I really love my blog and I love all of you. I also didn't want to go out with my friends and I struggled to pay attention (or even stay in my classes) at school. Any of my friends will tell you that I'm the biggest nerd (not ashamed) and that I love classes at school, but I didn't even want to go to school.
But that just makes you more miserable and it gives you more time with your anxious thoughts. I've always been an anxious person and I learned pretty quickly that the best thing to do is to keep busy so that you don't have time to be anxious. So keep doing the things you enjoy and don't let anxiety get in your way.
Just think, after all, that anxiety is an extended fight-or-flight response. Your brain just thinks it's protecting you. And, you have to admit, it's doing a pretty good job.
If you enjoyed this post then keep an eye on the blog, I'll be doing more like this in the future. Share this post on social media (you know, if you want to) and follow me on Twitter @Reviewing4Teens to see when I make a new post.
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