7 Tips to help Your Anxiety -

7 Tips to help Your Anxiety

During the holiday season, my anxiety always acts up. There are usually parties and seeing family and friends that you have not seen in a while. It’s a change from ordinary “go to work and go home” scenario which is why I always struggle with it. My childhood was full of change, and not knowing what was happening next. So I feel very secure in life with a loose structured plan especially around the holidays. In this article I want to show you seven tips that help me on a daily basis to be my BEST self and not feel so anxious.

Disclaimer: These helpful tips help me on a daily basis. I am sharing what works for me. Varied results can happen. Anxiety is trial and error. What works for me, may not work the same for someone else. So please feel free to tweak your own regimen to what works best for you and your anxiety.

1. Make time for YOURSELF EVERYDAY

This is an IMPORTANT tip to follow first. Ever feel run down, exhausted, burnt out, ready to cry or scream and you do not know why? Who has their hand up? Does any of this describe you? This is for you then. You are spreading yourself too thin. You NEED to make time for yourself.

Take 20 minutes for yourself
- Go for a walk, put your headphones in and get moving. I always feel better when I can get some exercise in.
- Go window shopping. How many of you go to Marshalls, Home Goods, or TjMaxx just to roam the isles and smell the candles? Yes, I am this person.
- Read a book, real or digital. I do not know about you, but I have TONS of unread books that I have not gotten to, that I have read the synopsis and was so interested to read it just to make a pile that I never touch. There will never be a good time to read unless you make that time.

2. Talk to Someone/ Be Social

Being social, provides something that you are not able to get being by yourself all the time. This helps you get out of your own head for a little while and into the present moment. We as humans need interaction and communicating helps us connect.

Friends and Family
- Make plans to grab coffee with a friend, sister, brother.
- Make plans to take a friend’s dog for a walk with them.
- Make dinner plans with friends and have a girl’s or guy’s night.
Therapy
- Make an appointment with a therapist. Sometimes just hearing yourself out does make a HUGE difference in dealing and healing your anxiety. It gives you a different perspective in a more private setting.
- Dedicating yourself to one appointment a week, biweekly, or monthly is time that you are putting aside to take care of you. Do not cancel it because you feel like it is less important than something else. YOU are the priority.

3. Make POSITIVITY a routine

Daily Positivity
- Surround yourself with positivity by reading a daily positive affirmation.
  - Instagram has tons of pages that you can follow to be able to set yourself up for a positive day.
  - You can also subscribe to my email newsletter Positive Vibes, I send you positive affirmations, and weekly newsletters to surround yourself with positivity when you need it. You can follow me on Instagram here, and sign up for my newsletter here.
- Destress in different ways
  - Meditation is more than your typical “omhhhmmmmmm”. Guided meditation is a great way to calm down when you are unable to talk yourself down.
  - Music is also a great way to add positivity. Put on your favorite jams and destress that way.
  - Taking a social media cleanse is NEEDED. Lives on Facebook and Instagram look perfect. Life is not perfect. Watching and being jealous of someone else’s life is not going to help you in yours. So staying off Facebook and Instagram for a while to focus on yourself is OKAY.

4. Make a SELF Care routine

Create a plan to take care of YOU
SELF CARE IS NOT SELFISH
- Put yourself together
  - I feel my BEST when my hair is done, I have a little make up, and I like what I am wearing. Those are little things that affect my whole day. If I do not put an effort in for the day, and I am walking around in my pjs, hair in a messy bun. (which we all have those days!) I do not feel my best.
- Facials/ Exfoliation
  - I love to go for facials. I believe skincare is a BIG secret to feeling good about yourself. Although facials are expensive, masks, and exfoliation at home are less expensive ways to revive those skin cells so that you feel rejuvenated and refreshed. Aim for 1 self-care mask a week.
- Aromatherapy
  - Calming scents have a big effect on how you feel. There are so many essential oils for everything. You name it, I am sure they have it. I use a diffuser when I am home, to diffuse essential oils into the air. It sets the mood. If I am focusing, I can diffuse an orange blend. if I would like to have a calming presence, I can diffuse lavender.
  - Aromatherapy lotion is another secret that is my FAVORITE.
    - Every night before bed, I have essential oil infused lotion on my bedside table. I use this lotion before I go to bed. It helps me sleep. The smell of it calms me and just keeps me on track with my anxiety. So it is an important part of my self care routine.
    - Bath and Body works has an aromatherapy line that is the BEST. I highly recommend their stress relief, and sleep collections.

5. Make future plans

Planning will help you have something to look forward to. Going to work can sometimes feel dreadful. Who WANTS to go to work? Frankly not many people. Most people can think of 100 things they would rather be doing than going to work. Myself included. BUT planning things that you will do after work or within the next few days helps you to be okay with going to work TODAY.
- Plan to paint your nails or do your hair when you get home from work.
- Plan to take a fitness class on Tuesday.
- Plan a family day that everyone will enjoy like the Zoo.

6. It's ALL about Nutrition

Looking at what you are eating is also important.
There are 2 types of people when it comes to eating with anxiety:
- The overboarder
- The underboarder
The overboarder: Will go over board with food when they have anxiety. They eat sweets, and carbs until they are satisfied or sick.
The underboarder: Will not eat when they have anxiety. Their anxiety limits them and makes them so sick, they cannot bring themselves to eat.
Either person is not wrong, but in both people they are lacking nutrition from good sources.
Make some simple meals with good protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats.

7. Give it time

Making a new habit and or changing an old one does not happen overnight. There is trial and error.
You can implement all these changes the first week, and then fall off the wagon the next because it happened so quickly, and you are now overwhelmed.
Focusing on yourself when your whole life you have worried about everyone else is a very difficult thing to do. You have been putting everyone first for years. To flip that now takes time and that is NORMAL. You will have days where you have to really focus on doing things for yourself. And there will be days where it comes easy. But it will not happen overnight.
Have patience and take it one day at a time and start slow.

What are some tips that help you daily with anxiety? I would love to hear your responses in the comments.

7 Tips to help Your Anxiety