Anxiety is pervasive in a lot of people’s lives. 1 in 2 Gen Z adults struggle daily due to anxiety. As one of those adults, I believe it is important to develop skills that help calm & combat that feeling.
These skills can be developed with specific practices. Before digging into those practices, let's get on the same page about what anxiety actually is. According to MedlinePlus, “anxiety is the feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. It can be a normal reaction to stress.”
It’s important to note that having anxiety doesn’t mean you have an anxiety disorder, as the latter is more intense. Anxiety disorders are “conditions in which you have anxiety that does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships,” as stated by MedLine Plus.
If you believe you have an anxiety disorder that is seriously hindering your life, I suggest talking to a therapist or trusted, emotionally-consenting individual.
It is also important to remember that anxiety manifests in different ways for different people. Your experiences can inform your triggers. Some get a light flutter in their stomachs while others get an acute feeling of impending doom. I’ve compiled this list of practices to accommodate the range of anxiety. They’re basics that most people can do to get out of their heads. While they aren’t a substitute for professional help, these practices can help you on your journey to mental wellbeing.
Touch grass
No seriously. Get outside and into nature. It may be difficult due to the issues arising from climate change, but do it when given the opportunity. According to a 2015 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, “participants who went on a 90-min walk through a natural environment reported lower levels of rumination and showed reduced neural activity in an area of the brain linked to risk for mental illness compared to those who walked in an urban environment.” Not only are nature walks beneficial, they’re especially important considering the upward trend towards urban living. City life is fast, and in my personal experience, time in nature helps slow life down, giving you the chance to let your anxiety pass. Nature subjects you to its chronology, and it provides a whole lot of things to take you out of the catacombs of your mind.
Meditate
I know, this one seems basic. Don’t click away, though. Please? The racing thoughts that come with anxiety can be overwhelming, and meditation can help alleviate them. A study published in the National Library of Medicine found that mindfulness meditation can help reduce anxiety. Users in r/Meditation say it’s like an upward plateau, with u/Thefuzy saying “as you meditate more you gain more sensitivity and will be unable to suppress unpleasant feelings as easily, it will seem worse than before. If you continue you will become acclimated to the anxiety, make it less bothersome.” I can agree, as it’s easier for your thoughts to start racing when your eyes are closed and the only stimulation you have is from the voice in your head. But, I’ve found that the longer I meditate, the more I’m able to let my thoughts pass by rather than consume me. It makes it easier to let the leaves float through the stream. I don’t know if it’s because my mind runs out of things to ruminate on or what, but it works for me. By actively practicing slowing down your mind, you may find yourself pulled away from your worries, realizing their actual stakes in the process.
Practice grounding
Another way of slowing down and living in the present, grounding is the act of taking note of the immediate things around you. If I were to practice grounding right now, I’d take note of the phone in my lap, the notepad on my coffee table, the table lamp to my left atop my bookshelf, things like that. I’ve also found that tapping my fingers together and counting the number of taps is a good way to ground, as it helps pull me out of my head and into my reality. By making you focus on something simple, grounding distracts you from whatever is triggering your anxiety in the moment. If you’re struggling with anxious thoughts, grounding can help you plant your feet in your environment.
Practice journaling
I know the idea of having a book full of your feelings that anyone can read is terrifying, but I promise it’s worth it. A study published in the National Library of Medicine on positive-affect journaling (PAJ) backs this up, saying “PAJ is a feasible and well-accepted intervention that can be implemented on the Web for effectively reducing some aspects of mental distress and improving aspects of well-being among medical patients with mild to moderate anxiety symptoms.” As someone who’s been journaling for years, I can attest to this. It helps me get all of my thoughts on a page, where I can see them for what they are. It’s a helpful way to vent. Having a journal allows you to get all of those anxious thoughts out of your head. Whether they’re things to forget about or take note of can be determined in the moment. But, if you want to work out those anxiety-inducing scenarios, journaling can be a great start.
Journaling is also more accessible than other forms of anxiety reduction, with the study concluding that “this relatively simple and cost-effective intervention may represent a low-risk way to improve a variety of well-being domains, particularly among underserved patients.”
Get a therapist
This one is a given. If your anxiety is impacting your day-to-day life to the point where you aren’t able to function in society as well as others, you may want to look into getting a therapist. They are trained professionals whose whole job is to help you work through your feelings. Whether that be anxiety, anger, trauma, whatever the case, there are people out there who are paid to help you with your mental health, you don’t have to be afraid of being a burden.
If you have insurance, look into those options. If not, you can look into insurance-free options online. You shouldn’t suffer in silence, and a therapist is a great person to talk to if you want to learn how to get a long-term grip on your anxiety. They will help you work through unprocessed feelings in a way that is specific to you and your situation.
The key to a lot of these techniques is distraction and perspective-setting. When you pull yourself out of your mind’s cloud of anxiety, you have a better chance at seeing what’s going on around you. At realizing what your real triggers and coping mechanisms are. You may even begin to recognize the roots of your triggers and find ways to chop away at them. I’m not an expert, though, so I still suggest talking to one if you’re dealing with a more severe case of anxiety.
I hope that you are able to incorporate some or all of these processes into your life if you struggle with anxiety. Now, they aren’t going to get rid of that anxiety once and for all, but they may help in those moments where it’s getting the best of you.
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