Managing your anxiety
If a person has racing thoughts and anxiety, it can be hard to focus on a lot of different things or even anything else when worry and anxiety comes. This worry can take control of you mind completely and you can get filled with worries and uncertainties. You might not be able to calm down or rest. Luckily, there are ways to control anxious thoughts, and it just takes practice to master the techniques.
Tips to control your worries
1.Try to separate yourself from the worrisome thoughts. You will need to learn how to look at your anxious thoughts in a different way.
You are going to try to reshape how you think about things. If worry comes into your head, you need to right away identify it as a sign or your worry and not reality. Correctly labelling your thoughts can help with self-awareness and can make it easier to control your thoughts. It also gives you something else to focus on instead of always constantly worrying.
2. It will be helpful if you ask yourself questions. When you get a worrisome thought, stop and ask yourself these questions:
- What is the real reason for this worrisome thought?
- Am I really afraid of this?
- Is there real danger, or can my mind be playing tricks on me?
- I am thinking negatively, and is what I am imagining likely to happen?
- How can I stop or change these negative thoughts into positive thoughts?
3. Think of your thoughts as data. Sometimes it’s helpful to view your thoughts as data and your mind as a data processing center.
You will get a lot of information and data coming in your mind throughout the day. Some of this information can be incorrect and confusing. This is an example of anxious thoughts. You may also interpret the data incorrectly. This means that you are allowing the anxious thoughts to take over and control you. You let them grow and stay there.
Remember that as the data processing center, you get to decide how to handle all the information. You need to remember that you are in control of everything. This means that you can choose to recognize or ignore the incorrect data. You should also keep in mind that the brain is designed to recognize danger and is hypersensitive to it. You may pick up on things that aren’t even real.
4. Pay attention and focus on the present. Many worrisome thoughts are focused on either the future or the past. You can get free of this by focusing on the present.
Avoid thinking too much about the past or future by interrupting these thoughts. Notice when you’re thinking about the past or future and guide your thoughts back to the present moment. Sometimes thinking about the past can make you fearful of the future. You need to remember that the past doesn’t have to repeat itself. You have the power to change how your future will be shaped.
5. Take action. Worrisome thoughts often prevent you from taking action. These worrisome thoughts keep you stuck in fear and worry. You need to learn how to take action even when you’re afraid.
Try to find one thing that you can influence positively in that moment and take action. When you take action you can actually decrease the number of anxious thoughts that you have on a daily basis. It can show you that there’s nothing to be afraid of, that you’re powerful, and that you can make a positive difference.
6. Stop those unhelpful thoughts. Some thoughts may be true, but they aren’t helpful. You need to learn how to tell helpful and unhelpful thoughts apart. Go through all of the unhelpful thoughts. For example, if you know that the chances of making a perfect presentation at work are low, but you still have to do it, this is an unhelpful thought. IT doesn’t encourage you to do your best.
7. Control Your Breathing. If will be of benefit if you can change your breathing habits. This will help you with your worrisome thoughts. A lot of people with worrisome thoughts have breathing habits that give them feelings of worry that bother them very much. You will need to slow your breathing down. You can breathe in for about 7 seconds, hold for about 3 seconds, and then breath out slowly for about another 7 seconds. Try repeating this process a few times. This is an exercise of breathing that will help you so that you are not upset with taking a lot of breaths.
8. Affirmations. Affirmations can be helpful to some people. Those that use affirmations find them to be very helpful. Affirmations are things that you can say to yourself to help yourself be more positive and can help you feel better. For example:
- I am a positive person
- I am optimistic
- I believe in myself
- I can find the positive in any situation
- I am positive at all times
9. Try Some Aerobic Exercises. When you have worry your body gets adrenaline. When you have that energy, if you focus it on aerobic activity, it will be very helpful for you. That is because exercise has a lot of benefits for helping with worrisome thoughts.
Exercise will help you with healthier breathing and can distract you. When you exercise, your body gets chemicals called endorphins which will improve your mood.
Some fun exercises to do or physical activity every day are:
- Walking
- Hiking
- Running
- Biking
- Swimming
- Dancing to music
- Doing yoga
- Lifting weights
- Playing sports such as baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, tennis, walleyball, volleyball, bowling, hockey, canoeing, cross-country skiing, rowing.
10. Do activities that are fun for you to calm you down.
What are your hobbies? Your hobbies are fun activities that can help you relax. Your hobbies are some activities that you should be able to go to, to help you relax and calm down when you get worrisome thoughts.
An activity can even be resting in your bed listening to music to get that sense of alone feeling to calm yourself down. You can also rest in quiet and try relaxation exercises or meditation. This could be a good time in peace and quiet to try affirmations to help yourself feel better.
- Do you like to listen to music, play an instrument, sing, paint, make jewelry, read books, write in a journal, play video games, watch movies, play sports, go for a walk, workout at the gym, or go biking?
These are all examples of activities that can help a person focus better on a task to help lessen worry. If you do not want to be alone, find a person to do an activity with that you think can be of benefit who can lift up your spirits.
Most of important remember that you alone are responsible for your life and the direction that you want your life to go to.
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