Tips for Coping With Anxiety

• Accept the feelings, it can’t hurt you.
• Give yourself permission to feel anxious
• Calm yourself with positive self-talk
• Breathe slowly through your nose, feeling the air fill your belly
• Let go, flow with feelings - don't try to fight it, which can make it worse
• Distract yourself; it’s only anxiety
• Use the adrenaline towards a positive goal
• Don’t let a bad day scare you
• Give yourself credit for how far you come, and don’t beat yourself up if you slip back
  
• Let time pass – it will go away

• Change “what if” thinking to “So, what if”
• Stay in the present
• Don’t judge/evaluate your feelings
• Thoughts and feelings are NOT actions – most likely no one even notices your anxiety
• What are you telling yourself that is scaring you?
• Remember: You are what you think
• The more you do, the more you can do
• You’ve gotten through anxiety before, you CAN do it again
• You can handle the anxious feelings, nothing terrible will happen
• The feelings are distressing, NOT dangerous
• In reality, there’s nothing that can hurt you
• Anxiety can only go so high and then it has to come down
• Take slow, deep breaths to calm your nervous system

What Helps

• Regular exercise: burns excess adrenaline
• Gardening (or any enjoyable hobby)
• Self-help books
• Meditation (quiet the restless mind)
• Diaphraghmatic (belly) breathing (practice 2x daily for 10-20 mins)
• Positive self-talk
• Pets are wonderful, nuturing companions
• Stop & slow down
• Allow yourself to express your feelings (talk to a friend, therapist, or write in a journal)
• Do something to keep your mind off your physical symptoms (concentrate elsewhere)
• Information & support groups (helps to know you’re not alone)
• Wean off caffeine, chocolate & other sweets, nicotine & excess alcohol (all aggravate anxiety)
• Pay attention to your body & REST accordingly

Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. — Robert Albert Bloch (b. 1917)