Anxiety is normal, and in many cases, you can learn to live with it. There are many different types of anxiety. You may experience it sporadically, and then your life will be somewhat easier. On the other hand, chronic anxiety, such as GAD (generalized anxiety disorder), can completely change the vector of your life, turning you into a scared little mouse. How to recognize your type of anxiety and cope with it?
Don't turn anxiety into part of your habit
Often, we tie our anxiety to habits. For example, you go on a date, but your date partner doesn't show up for a long time, and so you stand there and smoke one cigarette after another, worrying about it. Perhaps you don't smoke but devour brownies at a restaurant, hoping to drown out your anxiety with something nice. You are developing a bad habit, which is bad in itself. But even worse is the fact that your brain has now picked up the anxiety-reward (cigarette or brownie) pattern.
When doing so, your body will now alarm even more often, hoping to be rewarded for it. You are training yourself for anxious behavior, like an animal in the circus. Coping with this will be difficult, but the first step is mindfulness. Understand exactly why you are overeating. Try replacing the elements in your paternity with something less destructive (substitute a cigarette for a walk). You could also try keeping a journal, making these patterns visible for later self-analysis.
Practice loving-kindness meditation
Breathing techniques and meditation are your main friends on the road to healing. The meditation method has proven itself as far back as the ancient Buddhist practices, when monks focused on their bodily sensations, not allowing disturbing emotions to carry them into the abyss of irrational fears. Develop compassion, love, and warmth not only for yourself but also for those around you. Allow kindness to consume you, and then you will notice changes in your life. When you are kind to those around you, you will receive love in return. This will help you get out of your anxiety hole.
Attend group therapy to fight social anxiety disorder
We are just as skeptical of group therapy as we are of meditation. In our society, group therapy is thought of as something like, "My name is Carl, and I'm an alcoholic." However, as a sociobiological being, humans need a sense of cohesion. By attending group therapy, you realize that you are not alone. There are many people around you with similar problems who are learning to cope in one way or another. This helps to reduce shame and develop communication and understanding of yourself as part of society. Group therapy can become your bubble of comfort, where judgment and anxiety have no place.
Let yourself be anxious
What to do when your toddler cries? Any parenting manual will give you the answer: let their tantrum happen, then talk it out and move on with your life. The same goes for anxiety. Sometimes, you just need to accept it. As mentioned above, anxiety is a normal human feeling. We make it worse when we try to fight it. Constantly suppressing anxiety won't get you anywhere good because realizing that you are ignoring its signals, your body will make your anxiety even worse. Let the feeling come over you. Sit on a bench before your interview, doing breathing exercises and getting your thoughts together. And then just go and do it! After many repetitions, anxiety will no longer be the factor that stops you in your tracks.
Make small steps
Start exposing yourself to artificially created stress. "Your heart is a muscle that needs to be exercised, too, so give that mentally unstable girl a chance." Let's imagine a situation where you have a fear of public speaking. Some would say that the only way to overcome this is through constant speaking. But depending on the degree of your anxiety, this might just end up being traumatizing. On the other hand, you can try reciting poems in front of the mirror. Then, in front of your mom, after that, in front of the whole family. Make the audience bigger gradually. Step by step, your anxiety will decrease.
Don’t worry about your progress, just keep going
If you suffer from chronic stress and anxiety, the treatment process can be really challenging. You won't be able to rid yourself of anxiety completely in one go. But, again, take small steps. Set yourself individual goals, such as: "I want to reduce my dysmorphia" or "I want to stop being afraid to talk to girls." Start a tracker diary to track your progress. If at any point you start to feel like the piece is too big and you can't bite off, just break your goal down into smaller goals. Don't forget to visualize. Keep an anxiety diary where you can mark your progress or failures. Use a variety of schemes, like rating your condition on a ten-point scale, noting your use of anxiety management techniques, and so on.
When thinking about how to overcome social anxiety disorder, you must understand one thing: you are a completely unique person with experience and traumas no one else has. So, anxiety journaling may not work for you, as well as group therapy. But you may discover something completely new that no one ever has used as a coping mechanism. It’s worth saying that all “homemade” methods on how to fight your anxiety can be much less effective than therapy. Consequently, if you possess such an opportunity as a psychologist’s consultations, you better do it.
Still, before you can deal with your anxiety, you need to become aware of it. Anxiety is a normal human reaction to stress, so you shouldn't be afraid of it. Don't shut yourself off from it, but don't try to brush it off either. Accept anxiety as a fact and work to reduce its negative impact on your life. You have a lot of options: choose what works for you and get started!
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