Many people face the effects of anxiety every day.
For some, excessive stress and worry can cause the anxiety to become very overwhelming.
When this happens anxiety can begin to cause emotional, physical, and behavioural changes and challenges.
No matter what you are experiencing the important thing to know is that you are not alone and that you can turn it around and feel better again.
When dealing with anxiety you may experience many different symptoms such as mental and physical exhaustion, frequent headaches, constant tension or pain in your neck and also your back, nausea, dizziness, the inability to fully relax, and difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
Those are the most common symptoms.
You may feel only one or many of them at the same time.
When dealing with high anxiety or general anxiety disorder, the symptoms listed may not even begin to describe how you are really feeling inside.
The emotional pain of feeling out of control and wondering what is wrong with you can be devastating.
Whether your anxiety comes from constant worry, a fear or phobia, illness, relationship difficulties or finances, the good news is that changes can be made to reduce your anxiety, relieve your symptoms, and help you live life more fully again.
One of the biggest components to reducing anxiety is to focus on your mindset.
I believe that a healthy body needs a healthy mind, and a healthy mind helps in healing an unhealthy body.
This means you need to look more closely at your thought patterns and begin to practice relaxing your mind fully and more frequently.
When you are experiencing anxiety your mind is on constant overload.
That is when your symptoms and feeling of panic can start to set in and take over your mind and your body.
The following are steps you can use to take action and begin reducing your anxiety: Step #1.
Relax Your Mind.
This step is very important.
We often think that we are relaxing our mind if we are sitting down watching television or having some munchies while talking to a friend.
Unfortunately as much as those things are enjoyable it does not mean that those activities are helping your mind to unwind and relax.
To fully enter mind relaxation you must begin by setting aside at least 10 - 20 minutes for yourself each day.
During this time it is best to be completely alone and to use some techniques that will help you to more easily get in a relaxed state.
You can try relaxation techniques, deep breathing, visualization, yoga or meditation to name a few.
Choose one that suits you best so that it becomes easier for you to stick with.
Overall the main idea is to have that time completely for yourself without disturbances so that you can connect with yourself in mind, body, and soul, breathing in relaxation and breathing out any tension from your body.
This step takes time.
When you have anxiety your mind does not often shut off without some persistence.
If you have difficulty doing this step because your worries or negative thoughts keep creeping in, allow yourself to acknowledge those thoughts or worries and then physically make a point to move them aside in your mind, replacing them with an image of yourself feeling and looking happy and healthy.
It doesn't matter how many times you may have to do this, just trust that over time those thoughts will creep in less and less.
If you want you can even say out loud, "I choose to relax now" as you push the distracting or negative thoughts aside.
Step #2.
Trust Yourself.
This step sounds simple but it is one that many people struggle with.
Know that you have within you the tools you need to feel and be better again.
Trust in yourself and tell yourself that you are capable and strong.
If you don't believe in yourself and your ability to get better your mind will make that true.
Remind yourself of your abilities every day.
Verbally tell yourself, "I am capable and strong and I can conquer any challenge that comes my way.
" The more you tell yourself this and remind yourself of your abilities the more you will feel your strength and capabilities come out when you need them most.
Step #3.
Look at Your Anxiety Head On.
It can be helpful to put some focus on your anxiety and begin to examine where it came from and possibly what purpose it served you at the beginning.
I know you may be saying that anxiety does not serve any purpose except making your life difficult and challenging, but anxiety is your body's natural physical fight or flight response to a perceived threat.
So when you have continuous anxiety it can be helpful to look back at that initial situation that it stemmed from or specific situations where you remember the feeling of anxiety coming on.
If you have anxiety that stemmed from a worry or fear than it is likely that the anxiety was created to protect you and keep you safe.
For example, a worry over your health could have brought on anxiety to protect you from getting sick.
You may then experience this by finding yourself avoiding situations or events that expose you to germs, or by avoiding certain foods.
However, after the initial reaction to a situation, the anxiety no longer serves a purpose.
In fact, over time it does just the opposite.
Making yourself aware of this will help you in understanding your anxiety better and therefore will help you to more easily move forward from it.
Step #4.
Evaluate Your Lifestyle.
What we eat, drink, and how much physical activity we get can directly affect anxiety and the symptoms that may accompany it.
Your body, mind and every cell within, need to be properly nourished and oxygenated for you to feel and be well.
A high sugar or caffeine intake can increase anxiety in some and set your symptoms off.
After dealing with my own anxiety I noticed that whenever I would eat chocolate my anxiety would spike shortly after.
That doesn't mean that caffeine is a trigger for you but it is an example of how some food or drinks can affect you.
Try to make a point of paying attention to your daily diet and how you feel after drinking and eating certain things.
You may find a pattern between your anxiety and what you intake, or you may learn of some things you may be lacking in your diet that could help improve your health.
Also, physical exercise is known to help reduce stress and improve your mood.
Eating healthier, drinking more water, and getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day can help you relieve stress, energize your body and your mind, and just help you to feel better.
Whatever steps you choose in moving forward the key is to be consistent.
Don't quit or give up on yourself if you don't see immediate results.
It takes time to develop the symptoms that accompany anxiety, and it will take time to overcome and release them.
Begin by taking some time for yourself each day, choose a technique that will help you to relax easily and more often and become more aware of what triggers your anxiety.
Listen to your body, it is always giving you signs and signals to tell you what is wrong and what you can do to help it feel better.
If you are consistent and believe in yourself, then you can overcome the challenges you face.
Trust yourself and your inner wisdom.