How to Quickly Check-in with Your Anxiety

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength-carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

  Corrie Ten Boom

2020 has been a crazy year filled with uncertainty, pain, and anxiety. Even outside of 2020, stress and anxiety do not stop. Learning how to get rid of anxiety fast can help us live a more energized life. Mostly because we cannot let anxiety steal our strength that we need today to work towards our goals and getting through the day.

To help cope with anxiety more effectively, I have listed below five of my favorite tips that I use to help put stress at ease.

5 Tips to Quickly Deal with Anxiety

1. Get your anxiety out

Get your anxiety out of your head and channel it somewhere. This manifestation could be telling a trusted friend about what you are worried about without looking for solutions. Healthline even recommends just shouting it out. For me, I like to write out what I am feeling anxious about while generating some solutions to help minimize the problem. These are just three different examples, many ways work, just getting it out of our heads can have a calming effect on how to get rid of anxiety fast.

2. Exercise 

Exercise releases dopamine. Helping us feel better and also distracts us from whatever is causing us anxiety.  Exercising also empowers us because when exercising and post-exercise, we feel better about ourselves. Which helps equip us better to tackle whatever is causing us anxiety.

Studies show yoga is particularly good for relieving stress, increasing flexibility and mindfulness, and overall leads to a better quality of life.

Meditation is also a proven way of learning how to build that mental resilience needed to face anxiety head-on. Try one of these seven meditation practices to see if one works for you.

3. Tune in with your body

Where are you holding anxiety physically? For me, my breathing gets shallow, my shoulders get tight and I clench my jaw. By systematically breathing longer breaths, stretching my shoulders, and loosening my jaw, the anxiety leaves both my body and my mind quickly.

Mental Health UK has also found some other common areas people manifest anxiety is their stomach churns, they breathe fast, their heartbeats quickly, have cold sweats, or some other physical indicator. Learn what yours are, pay attention to them, and do what you can to minimize them. Helping ourselves feel calmer physically helps us be calmer mentally as well. It also provides a sense of control, that your body is reacting to stress and you can calm it. Seeing yourself calm your body is a good way of how to get rid of anxiety fast.

4. Have sugar, alcohol and caffeine in moderation

Maybe the problem is that we are a little anxious, but the sugar/alcohol/coffee spikes and makes the stress seem elevated. If you are feeling anxious, avoid the things that will make you feel even more anxious. The best way is to have the above in moderation or abstain from them. As easy as it is to seek comfort in these things, it is only a temporary fix that can cause hours of anxiety as we deal with the side effect of these substances.

5. Go to a Relaxing Memory

Think of one of your cherished memories. Smile and close your eyes as you think about it. Remember the feelings that went along with that experience. What senses can you activate to help remember? What did the experience smell, sound, or taste like?

Thinking of these memories helps remind us of the good times we’ve had and the great times still to come. Today might be brimming with anxiety but remembering happy times helps us realize there are joyful times ahead as well.

Main Take-Aways

• Just getting our anxiety out of our heads can reduce the negativity of what we feel, helping us learn how to get rid of anxiety fast.
• Focus on the physical body to help calm the mental mind as well
• Remember there will be good times ahead

Action item

Use one of the above techniques to help calm your anxiety down. How do you feel? Write down some other strategies in your phone and refer to them when your anxiety is getting a little out of control.