5 Ways I Shapeshift My Anxiety

This post isn’t a proven approach to overcoming anxiety, but rather tips on how I try to manage my anxiety. Over the years, the tips below have helped me maintain a calmer headspace, a clearer perspective, and happier vibration in life.

1. Wake up and stretch to get your blood flowing. I like to start my day with some stretches and simple yoga moves. Since I suffer from chronic neck pain, this works twofold for me.
2. Meditation. I’m not saying I’m a meditation guru – I’m just saying I do the best I can. More than half the time, my mind is still thinking – sometimes on overdrive. What I’ve learned from starting meditation is that it doesn’t mean your mind will stay quiet – it means you are working towards that quiet. I use a phone app called Calm, but youtube also has some great resources.
3. Read about ways other people manage their anxiety (nothing like firsthand experience)—books, books, and more books.
4. I try to rewire my brain by talking myself out of it. I will remind myself that the story I am making up is not valid. In the event the story is true, I have to slow it down. I hit the brakes when I am driving my mind on 100 mph on a 60 mph road.
5. What I am about to say might seem like I’m a hypocrite because I said I stop myself from overthinking, but what that means is I still feel my emotions. Being in a funk is okay – it helps a whole ton if you can accept that you feel crappy. I take that crappy, and I journal with it – it’s a way to explore my emotions when I see it on paper. It helps me recognize it for it is, even if I feel uneasy and unhappy. I allow it. To be clear – this part is challenging. Feeling your feelings is painful, but the only way out is through, and so through we go.

I hope that if you’ve made it thus far, you have found some use in this post. Nothing in life is a one size fits all approach, I’m just sharing tidbits of what works for me. If you’re like me and trying to find ways to calm your anxiety – then we’re on similar journies, keep on swimming, there’s hope in trying.

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If any of the above tips work for you or if you have other means of dealing with your anxiety that you find helpful, please share in the comments below.