How to cope with stress and anxiety

By Jen

Hey! I hope you’re doing okay? If you’ve clicked on this post I’m assuming you’ve been experiencing some form of stress or anxiety? Firstly, well done for noticing that you’re experiencing these emotions, and trying to find ways to help alleviate these feelings. Anxiety and stress can be really tough to deal with.

In todays society; with higher rates of social media use, higher societal standards and rising cost of living; it is inevitable that at some point you will experience some form of stress or anxiety. However, how it affects each individual person is entirely different. Therefore, I was thinking that maybe I should share some top tips with you on ways to help manage your anxiety and stress.

Identify your triggers

The first thing you could try is identifying what is causing your anxiety or stress. By doing this, you will learn more about your anxiety and stress, and you will be able to find self-help techniques that work for you in helping to reduce your anxiety and stress. Is it friendship drama? Maybe you’re late on an assignment? Or maybe certain tasks are overwhelming you? The best way for you to identify your triggers would be to keep a journal. When I struggle with anxiety or stress, I find journalling really useful at sorting through my emotions as well as figuring out what is triggering the anxiety. I absolutely could not recommend it enough.

Utilising breathing techniques

A lot of people believe that practicing slow breathing exercises as a way of reducing anxiety is a myth, however, there is actually scientific evidence that demonstrates the benefits of mindful breathing on the body. When we consciously begin to focus on our breathing, slowing it right down and breathing in deep- filling our lungs- it causes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in our bodies to balance with one another. This helps to calm you right down, and helps you perceive your anxiety triggers as non-threatening, consequently making it easier for you to either move past your fears, or deal with them in a level-headed, calm manner.

The 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 grounding technique

Discovered by Betty Alice Erickson, I use this technique a lot when it comes to reducing my anxiety. This grounding technique is particularly helpful when your mind is racing with anxious thoughts or you just can’t seem to control your emotions. It works by distracting you, and pulling you away from your mind (and those anxious thoughts) and bringing you back into the present moment.

To carry out the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 grounding technique, I want you to look around the room you’re in and find 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste. Take in as much detail as you can about the thing you are sensing, for example, if you are touching your bed sheets, notice how they feel. Do they feel smooth and soft? Or maybe they have a specific texture to them? Noticing these little details more deeply pull you even further from your anxious thoughts, and back to reality.

Positive affirmations

Positive affirmations are another key self-help technique that could be used to help gradually relieve anxiety through retraining your brain by challenging anxious thoughts, and replacing them with affirming, confident thoughts. Like the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 technique, positive affirmations work well to distract your mind from the negative, anxiety-provoking thoughts, and replace them with thoughts that are more tranquil- bringing you back to the present moment. I have included a link at the bottom of this post which will take you to an article written by ‘Calm’ that explains how to use positive affirmations for anxiety relief really well- definitely go and check it out!

Making healthy lifestyle changes

Please make sure that you are treating yourself, your body and your mind with the uttermost kindness whilst you navigate your anxiety and stress. Making sure that you are getting plenty of sleep, eating healthy, nutritious foods, participating in lots of self-care activities and sticking to a routine will really, really help with your resilience towards stress and anxiety and your ability to work through it Remember that your mental health is just as important as your physical health, so make sure to give it just as much attention.

Accepting that you cannot control everything

Unfortunately, as difficult as it is to to comprehend, you cannot control everything in your life. Therefore, learning to accept this is highly important when it comes to dealing with anxiety and stress. Of course, this kind of acceptance isn’t always something that happens overnight, it will be something that you have to work on for some time. However, by beginning to retrain your brain to have this mindset, the impact that your anxiety has on you will be greatly reduced with time.

Seek out support

Sometimes, self-help techniques aren’t enough to bring down anxiety and stress levels. If you feel that this is the case for you, definitely do seek out support from someone. Examples of people you could seek support from are:

• Parents
• Friends
• Doctor/GP
• Therapist
• Mental Health Support Organisations

Building up a support system, and talking to trusted friends and family can really help to take off the burden that anxiety and stress can place on your shoulders, so if you feel able do, definitely, definitely reach out and talk to someone you trust about how you are feeling.

Below, I have listed some UK based Mental Health Support Organisations and some handy phone numbers for you in case you feel like you need them 🙂

• Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/
  • Samaritans Crisis number (24hrs): 116 123
• Anxiety UK: https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/
• PAPYRUS | Prevention of Young Suicide: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/
• Childline: https://www.childline.org.uk/get-support/contacting-childline/
  • Childline Crisis number (24hrs): 0800 1111
• SHOUT (if you don’t feel like talking on the phone, but feel you need support): text ‘SHOUT’ to the number 85256 or text ‘YM’ to the same number if you are under 19 (24hrs).
• UK Urgent Medical Help number: 111
• UK Emergency Service number: 999

If you feel like you are in a mental health crisis, please either get in touch with your GP, call 111 or 999, or call your local crisis number for urgent support. Please remember that you are not alone.

Final Take Away

Anxiety and stress can be difficult for everyone, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Remember that your family and friends love you, and are there to support you. Also, having a range of self-help techniques in your hands- like I have discussed above- will be really helpful at alleviating your anxiety and stress, so please do use them!

Thank you so much for reading my post! I really hope it has been useful for you, and offered you some reassurance about the stress and anxiety you are feeling.

Please comment down below or leave feedback through the ‘get in touch’ page above with suggestions on what you would like me to address in one of my upcoming posts. I really do value your input!

All my love,

-Jen x

Links

’20 affirmations for anxiety relief (and how to use them)’ | Calm: https://www.calm.com/blog/affirmations-for-anxiety