Practical Advice for Not Just Managing Anxiety, But Overcoming It Completely
Living life in constant fight or flight mode is overwhelming and exhausting. If you feel this way, you are not alone.
I lived like this for longer than I’d like to admit, and it showed. But there is light at the end of this long and exhausting tunnel.
I may not be completely stress free all the time, but I now live a life that is filled with peace and joy. In this post, I am going to show you how you can go from constant anxiety and fear to genuine peace and freedom.
Actionable Steps and Guidance to Stop Anxiety in Its Tracks
Here you will learn practical, faith-based strategies to help reduce your anxiety.
Let’s start off with some instant relief strategies for quick wins when it comes to managing the anxiety. We’ll then gradually move on to long-term solutions for deeper guidance on how to overcome it completely.
1. Immediate Techniques to Calm Down When Anxiety Hits
I’ve tried many different strategies over the years to help me calm down in moments of panic. Some worked and some didn’t. Here are a few that did:
Breathe
Okay, I know this seems obvious. I was recently doing a workout video on Youtube and the instructor reminded us to breathe and I realised that in that moment, I was not breathing.
Once it was brought to my attention, I started to notice how I, not only hold my breath during workouts but I also hold it in times of anticipation or stress.
Since taking the opportunity to stop and take a breath, I have been able to manage the anxiety a lot more easily. It helps manage the physical effects of anxiety as well as grounding you in the moment.
Grounding Exercises
Speaking of grounding, there are exercises such as the sensory one. Where you name something you can touch, something you can see, smell, hear, etc. It brings you back to reality by focusing on your surroundings.
Prayer
Stopping in times of distress and panic to turn to God and ask for help is a game changer. What could be more helpful than turning to the One who created you?
I have found that these quick and simple exercises provide much needed relief in moments of stress and panic.
2. Identify the Triggers of the Anxiety
After calming down, it’s important to reflect on what caused the anxiety. Taking stock of what made you feel anxious in those moments, will reveal the common or recurring triggers in your life. Identifying problems is the first step to solving them.
Some common triggers include social situations, work problems, and overthinking…
It’s important to note that the triggers are not the big problem here, the anxiety is.
Yes, these triggers have a real impact and dealing with them should significantly reduce the anxiety. However, life is never going to be perfect and we will always have problems. And the goal is not to resolve every problem in order to live a peaceful and happy life. The goal is to live a peaceful and happy life while we deal with the problems that are an inevitable part of it.
Once you have started to calm down and feel better, it’s helpful to identify the reason why you started feeling that way.
Do not try to identify the reasons for the anxiety while you are still anxious because focusing on that will only get you more worked up.
Distance first, Identification second.
Making a habit of identifying the triggers after you’ve gotten to a place of calm, also helps with another thing.
When you’ve been struggling with anxiety for so long, it can become your normal. This makes it difficult to even realize that you are feeling anxious in that moment.
I mean, how can you implement techniques to calm down when you don’t even realize that you need to calm down? This is what happened to me.
It can be easy to notice that you are anxious when you are having a panic attack, but it’s harder to notice the signs leading up to it, or just anxious moments in general. However, if you do, you can stop and breathe, check-in, and calm down before it gets to that point. This helps you to put step 1 into action.
3. Create a Routine for Managing Daily Stress
Developing healthy habits to prevent anxiety from building up is key. This contributes to long-term anxiety management.
I used to get annoyed when my dad would tell me to exercise. “I’m too depressed to even get out of bed, never mind exercise!” I would say. You see, the anxiety had gotten so bad that it turned into depression and that in turn got so bad that doing anything felt almost impossible.
It took a while to get out of that dark place, but I did so by starting with small wins. You don’t have to do a lot. Increase your steps, do those bed workouts. It can be anything. Once you start and gain momentum, it won’t be long until you have a workout routine to be proud of.
One of the best things I’ve done this year is develop a routine. Especially a routine that is built around good habits. I had all these goals in mind such as exercising and reading my bible before work, and building a routine enabled me to make that a reality.
Taking care of your physical health significantly impacts your mental health. Regular exercise, a good nights sleep, staying hydrated, all contribute to your mental well-being. There’s a reason why the say you are what you eat. Trust me, I feel 10 times better mentally when I am eating good, nutritious food and moving my body regularly.
4. Strengthen Your Mind with Faith-Based Practices
Faith-based practices can provide mental and emotional resilience over time.
There is something so calming about laying all our fears, worries, and concerns down and giving them to God. It feels like a much-needed unloading of everything that is weighing you down.
Sometimes, I will even picture each problem in my mind and imagine physically putting it in Jesus’ hands. The stack gets pretty high as I add each thing to him, but he can easily carry all my burdens, whereas I buckle under the pressure of it all.
I was never the kind of person who was able to meditate. I simply could not clear my mind. However, this all changed when I realized that that was not the point. The point is to focus your thoughts on one thing: God.
Spending time every day just reading the bible gives me such peace. Not to mention, it’s actually really entertaining and contains so much wisdom and advice that you can apply to your life. If you are struggling with a particular problem, I guarantee there is something in the bible that can help you.
Here are some bible verses that help to overcome anxiety.
5. Long-Term Strategies for Overcoming Anxiety Completely
Therapy, mindset shifts, or lifestyle changes, combined with faith and daily habits, can help you move toward fully overcoming anxiety.
Once you’ve implemented all of the above steps, you’ll eventually see the long-term benefits. At this point, you’ve already done all the hard work and now all you need to do is bring it home.
When you look up, you’ll see that your lifestyle has changed and all you are doing is tweaking it here and there to make it better. You’ve shifted your mindset, and you just need to be conscious of maintaining that shift.
Consider things like therapy to help you solidifying and maintain these changes. You’ve won all the major battles and the great war is over. Shift your focus on enjoying this time of peace.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but for years I kept referring to it as “My Anxiety”. Train yourself to verbally and mentally stop claiming anxiety as yours. Anxiety is something you experience; it is not who you are as a person.
I hope that this helps at least one person struggling with anxiety. I know what it is like to have life feel like a constant uphill battle. But I also know that it is possible to get to the other side of that hill and, once you do, then you really start to gain momentum. Keep going! You are doing great ❤
I pray that God heals you, restores you, and blesses you.
Enjoy the journey.
