Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
I am sure there are times in everyone’s life when you want to do something but you simply could not. There are several reasons why that could have happened. Anxiety is nothing but the feeling when you know that it’s not under your control but still, you want to. In the process of that, we all basically get stressed and that’s what is anxiety. For example, you might feel nervous before taking big tests or exams. You might feel anxious when it’s your turn to speak in a session. These feelings can be controllable and we all definitely can cope with them.
Avoidance is not always bliss. Instead of avoiding these feelings, we should face them. Once you start facing your anxiety and stress you’d be amazed to know what you can do when you start facing your fears. Today I’m going to note down a couple of steps to be taken in case of stress or anxiety to battle with it and win over it. So I’m going to explain how I deal with anxiety and how I cope with it. So that you can take something out of it and understand what is Anxiety and how to deal with anxiety.
1st Way to deal with Anxiety: always have a growth mindset
Some people have a fixed mindset. What it means is that whenever some situations come up they always tend to limit their thought process thinking that this is what they are. This is who they are. This is what they can do. There is not much they can further do. But brain science further has shown that you can teach your brain in new ways to respond to people with a growth mindset. Which will always push you to find a resolution to any problem that might arise in your life. And you will be able to handle any situation that life throws at you.
2nd Way to deal with Anxiety: notice what it feels like when you are anxious.
When you’re anxious you should always notice what are your behaviours. So that next time onwards when such feelings appear you should take note of them and take remediating actions which are going to help you not become more anxious. Maybe your hands become sweaty. Maybe you feel that you need to drink something. Maybe your hands start to shake. Maybe your heartbeats increase.
Once you start noticing all of these behaviours when you see such changes in your day to day life you can always get to know that you are actual and take precautionary measures to avoid that scenario. Being self-aware is the most that you can possibly do to avoid being anxious.
3rd Way to deal with Anxiety: breathe and talk yourself through it
positive affirmations can change any perspective. Even if you are in a bad situation, all you have to do to not become more anxious is count to 10 from one. Once you do that you would see that your anxiety levels are much lower than it was before. Similarly, once you count from one to 10 after that talk yourself through the situation that you are going to be OK. You are going to do alright. You are going to get through this. Tell yourself with a bit of courage that you can do this. Or it’s okay to feel anxious but you can do this anyways.
4th Way to deal with Anxiety: face the situation don’t wait for anxiety to go away
You might think that you will put off speaking publicly until you no longer feel anxious about it. But it doesn’t work that way. It’s actually facing the anxiety that helps you manage it. This is called exposure and the more you get exposed to the situation and start handling it the more benefits you will be getting in the long run.
These are the four major ways in which I personally handle myself when I am anxious and I have shared them here for you. Which one of these could you more resonate with, let me know in the comments below. And also, if you have any other way that you handle yourself then let me know as well. I would love to include your way of handling it so that others could benefit from that way of handling anxiety as well.
I am a 33-year-old gentleman from a lower-middle-class family hailing from a small village Narasinghpur in Cuttack, Odisha, INDIA. I have a post-graduate degree in M.Tech from BITS Pilani. I started blogging back in June 2014. You can check out my journey and all that I have learnt all these years on my website.
