Anxiety is a normal emotion and even healthy in small increments. If it becomes debilitating and prevents you from living your life productively, whether it may be our relationships, social life, and work, here are some tips:
1. Challenge your thoughts
Anxious thoughts are intrusive cognitively distorted thoughts that magnify futuristic uncontrollable thoughts of negative scenarios, making the situation worse than our anxiety makes us believe. A way to combat these thoughts is to write them all out, taking a step back and reading what you have written down; you may find that our thoughts are not always true. To get ahead of it, when you notice yourself going down the negative path, ask yourself how likely a scenario you think is going to occur? Are these reactive reasons?
2. Using your adrenaline
Small doses of anxiety don’t have to paralyze you. The “sweet spot” can be a moderate amount can help you accomplish a task better by keeping you engaged and excited.
3. Manifesting and reframing positive feelings
Most of us may associate anxiety with something negative, a bad, daunting, unpredictable situation.
Instead of focusing on the outcomes, think about how you are feeling presently, start associating that nervous feeling with excitement instead.
Reframe and tell yourself “I am excited” because you are present in the moments rather than being nervous about what’s to come.
Manifesting and reframing are easier to manage anxiety rather than eliminating it all together.
4. Motivated by the root into desires
Identifying what triggers your anxiety is important. But there are certain triggers that one can overcome through being able to grasp and be alert of the brewing energy of anxiety and channeling that into motivation to get things that you desire done before you have time to think about it. (Motivated while balancing it without it being overwhelming and debilitating).
5. Be specific with your goals
Set goals that are realistic, intentional, specific. Having an action plan can help not only with your anxiety but time management to have structure rather than letting anxiety take over.
⁃ what’s the task you want to accomplish
⁃ How much time are you going to give yourself
⁃ Did you give yourself breaks
⁃ A specific cue to remind you to do the task (e.g. when you make your morning coffee, that’s a cue for you you to open up your laptop to get to work)
Note: Everyone’s experience is unique and complex so some strategies/tools might not be relevant to your specific situation. I encourage you to use the content as a guide for improving your mental health. However, it is not a substitution for medical and mental health care. Take care of your mind and body.
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