How to cope with anxiety is a question we ask ourselves every day – it might be something that keeps you awake at night, or maybe an unexplained feeling of nervousness towards the future. The most common response to this feeling of anxiety is to take tablets for it (about 1 in 4 women currently take some form of anti-anxiety medication, along with around 1 in 12 men). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking medication on the short term when you are suffering from an acute bout of anxiety, but there are also a number of other more natural forms of self-help which can help you cope on a long term basis. These things not only work for helping cope with anxiety, they can help cope with stress too – something that has come to be known as an epidemic in the western world over recent years.

For your reading pleasure we’ve put together a list of our top 10 ways to cope with anxiety – most of which won’t cost you anything at all.

Top 10 tips for coping with anxiety:

  1. Expose yourself to what embodies your fear/anxiety and face it – this is known as exposure therapy (see tip number 2 on how to cope with panic attacks). For example if you are afraid of spiders then look at pictures or watch videos of them – just keep reminding yourself that these animals pose no danger and there’s nothing related to spiders about which gives people anxiety.
  2. Tell yourself that you are not going to get anxious and you won’t – if you believe it, then it will work. This is why people who cope with anxiety take control of their lives – they don’t be afraid and they do what makes them happy rather than following a socially conditioned life. They cope  with anxiety as opposed to being controlled by it. 
  3. Imagine the worst case scenario – sit down for as long as possible focusing solely on this imagined scene in your mind’s eye, visualizing every single tiny detail until you can see the experience playing out like a movie. It might sound odd but by doing this you get used to handling fear in an abstract way which reduces its power over you.
  4. Take a break from modern society and get back to basics – think about how your ancestors lived thousands of years ago, without the internet and modern day electronics it is likely that anxiety levels were much lower than they are today. Think about what gave them stress and then think whether they cope with anxiety or not?
  5. Challenge your preconceptions – figure out what things that you believe to be true really aren’t (for example, if I grew up in London my whole life does this mean I have to stay here for the rest of my life?).
  6. Spend time around nature – as long as you do this alone sit somewhere where nobody can interrupt you focus on every single detail which passes by in front of you and enjoy the moment. If you cope with anxiety well then this will help cope with stress to because it brings your mind into the present.
  7. Do something which makes you happy – going into work doesn’t count! This can be anything from writing a blog, watching a film, playing computer games or socializing with friends – the more active you are doing what suits your personality then the better you cope with anxiety.
  8. Write down 10 things that have made an impact on your life and their respective dates – this is known as creating an autobiography of yourself (which also helps cope with burnout), soon after write up another list of 10 things that haven’t influenced your life at all. By thinking about what has made an impact on your life you get a sense of perspective – not to cope with anxiety but as a stress reducer.
  9. Keep yourself busy – this doesn’t just help cope with anxiety, it helps cope with stress too. If you are constantly doing something then there’s no time for your mind to wander down negative paths and generate feelings of dread alone. By keeping yourself busy you will take control of your life so that it operates in a way which suits you instead of by defaulting into a routine which follows social norms (which often don’t suit many people).
  10. Exercise more – we often wonder why some people cope with anxiety better than others if they have grown up in similar situations to us. One of the most common reasons, is that they cope with anxiety by exercising more. This can be as simple as walking instead of taking the bus or going to work every day and even running home from work.

So do you cope with anxiety? What other tips would you add to this list?

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