How to Cope with Anxiety

How to Cope and Conquer Anxiety

Keyword: Cope with anxiety

Anxiety is almost an everyday occurrence for people, finding ways to cope with anxiety can enrich your life.

You Aren’t Alone in Your Anxiety

Also, if you are feeling anxious, you aren’t alone. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), 40 million US adults every year – 18% of the total population – suffer from an anxiety disorder. Making it the most common type of mental illness in the United States.

Furthermore, Harvard Health found that 31% of US adults experience any anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.

Lastly, studies have found that 41% of employees experience a general sense of workplace anxiety – which negatively affects their job performance.

Anxiety is the most common mental problem in the United States. I know that doesn’t always help to know, but I wanted to let you know you aren’t alone. Plus there are tons of resources to get help if you do have an anxiety disorder.

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Where to get Professional Help to Cope with Anxiety

Everyday anxiety is one thing, it isn’t pleasant, but it can be managed. However, anxiety disorders require special attention. ADA defines an anxiety disorder as specific psychiatric disorders that involve extreme fear or worry. They include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, and specific phobias.

The good news is that anxiety orders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment. When people don’t receive treatment, their anxiety can impact their health, relationships, overall well-being, and life events.

If you sense you are suffering from something more than everyday anxiety, please check out the below resources. People are happy to help you and will get your life back to where you want it to be!

Resources

Anxiety and Depression Association of America

SAMHSA

American Psychiatric Association

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Existing Resources to Cope with Your Anxiety

At the blog, we have already covered a variety of topics that help address anxiety.

Anecdotal, using the below techniques has helped me place my anxiety into perspective and lets me conquer the feelings most days.

Additional Tips for Coping with Anxiety

1. Recognize what anxiety is

Anxiety is a feeling, just like elation, sadness, fear, or pride. Anxiety is the body’s natural response to stress. It is a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. Common examples include the first day of school, job interviews, or giving a speech.

Anxiety can help in these situations. It motivates people to prepare harder to get the result they want. Recognize that anxiety is trying to push you to do your best. It is when anxiety gets out of balance (overly pushing and deliberating us) that we need to learn to cope with anxiety.

2. Anxiety Never Fully Goes Away

Conquering anxiety does not mean anxiety never comes again. Just like happiness and sadness – you can’t control when the emotions will arise. All you can do is learn to recognize your feelings and treat them at the moment. A common technique that I have heard is to recognize your emotions as friends.

For instance, when you feel anxiety, talk to it. Say, “hello anxiety. It is good to see you. I recognize that you are helping me feel the pressure to perform my best. I will prepare myself for the stressful event. You can sit with me while I work on my task – but you will sit next to me and not overwhelm me.” I know, this sounds super cheesy. But it does help. I’ve used this technique and something about personifying emotions makes them easier to handle.

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3. Do the thing anyways

If you feel safe, and it is safe to do so, do what is causing you anxiety. Part of coping with anxiety is not letting anxiety control your life. You are in control. Let’s say public speaking is holding you back in your Professional Career. As much as 77% of the population shares this fear. Get success over that fear. Join ToastMasters to get practice. After some repeated master experiences, you will have more confidence in approaching your fear. The anxiety will never fully go away, but you will know you can conquer the task.

4. Know your Anxiety

While researching for this blog post – I had to scroll past 4 Google ads to get to the academic research. People have resources to help with anxiety. With varying degrees of effectiveness, I am sure. When I took a closer look, they offered generic advice or specific insight for phobias.

If you feel safe doing so, explore your anxiety. When does it come up? What exactly is causing you stress and worry? By understanding what is causing you anxiety, you can better cope with your anxiety because you know exactly when it will arise. Some common examples include social settings, taking on new work projects, giving speeches, or learning new skills.

5. Take a Break

Learning to cope with anxiety doesn’t have to be all work and no play. Sometimes when you feel overwhelming anxiety, take time to step back. Practice yoga, listen to music, meditate, use a relaxation technique, talk to someone, or go take a nap. Sometimes for the best results, step back from your stressor and focus your effort somewhere else. Studies show that by stepping away, you can often return to the problem with a solution and a more positive attitude.

Key Take-Aways

Anxiety is the most common mental problem in the United States. If you are feeling anxiety, you aren’t alone.
There are tons of resources and people qualified and willing to help you.
By understanding anxiety more, you can learn to better cope with anxiety in daily life.

Action Item

Pick one of the above strategies to try this week. Whenever you feel anxiety coming, try one of the methods. See if using these strategies helps you better cope with your anxiety.

You Aren’t Alone in Your Anxiety