Overcoming Anxiety

Humans have six basic emotions; happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust and fear. The other emotions we experience are subsets of those basic emotions. Our emotions refer to those things we feel that reflects our response to a stimuli. One frequent reaction to future occurrences is anxiety which would be a subset of fear. Being anxious is a natural response towards trying to figure out things to come. Will we ever know the results of the future? Let us discuss five tips we can practice to lower anxiety levels.

Remaining calm – this is the total opposite of being anxious. Two of the main things that happen when we are anxious are we worry about what will happen IF and only IF we make a mistake and our heart races a couple beats faster than usual. Acknowledging these changes is one step towards a state of calmness. You can slowly count to ten until you are calm, do this as much as you need while taking deep breaths and releasing each time.

Positive Self-Talk- this tip is self-explanatory but let us elaborate. Talking to yourself aloud is a great way to overcome anxiety and the use of a mirror will make this process more effective. Say this line “Self, whatever you are about to do, you cannot control the result of it. You can only do your best and hope for positive results.” This is an optimistic approach and the aim is to make you feel good about yourself while lowering your level of anxiety.

Talk to someone – this tip is almost the solution to every problem. Talking to others about the things we are worried about which causes us to be anxious is definitely a way to rid self of anxiety. It gives one comfort that someone else understands your point of view and will shed light to ways in which you can be less worried or nervous.

Listen Relaxing Music – relaxing music plays an important role in stimulating the brain and calming the nerves. It takes the mind away from the current confusion to a place of freedom and calmness. Listening to relaxing music will slow your breathing, lower your heart rate, ease muscle tensions and reduces stress. This is definitely a tip to try especially if you possess musical intelligence.

Participate in physical exercises- this requires you to move; whether jogging, running, walking or dancing. While anxiety may allow you to lose sleep, doing physical activates can improve your quality of sleep. Physical activities can be used to clear the head and this can be done on the beach or even in a wide yard space. It allows you to be more focused on ways to complete the task and not the feelings of fear towards completing it.

What we know for sure is that anxiety is inevitable and happens to the best of us. You may experience anxiety if you have an interview, if it’s your first day of school, if you are moving to another country or even if you are going on your first date. You just want to get it right and that is understandable. Remind yourself that you have no control over the future but control over the way you approach it. Approach it with less anxiety, you may not know the future but you know who holds it. Trust the process!

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