It goes without saying that 2020 is one of the most stressful and anxiety filled years of all time. We don’t have to go into detail about how covid has negatively effected all of our mental and physical health, but we want to offer some tips below to generally reduce anxiety and stop feeling so anxious all the time. You can’t control everything that happens around you, but you can control how you react and the steps you use to live each day.
Before reading the below consider that you are doing your best with what you have and should never feel like you aren’t worth it or don’t deserve to be happy, find peace and calm. Happiness is a state of being and once you implement the steps below you will feel better over time. You may also want to seek the services of a professional counsellor or a spiritual mentor to help to implement the areas we are discussing below.
How to stop feeling anxious
Turn off your smartphone and device notifications. You don’t need to answer messages, emails and social media updates as they happen. Consider allowing a few times a day where you check your notifications and the rest of the day enjoy some peace and quiet. If you need to stay on top of communications for a specific person or business you can use custom notifications for just that instance. There’s no reason to see all of the notifications associated with the photo of the lunch you shared yesterday. Picking times to check things will also make you more productive generally.
Learn to say no and have boundaries with the people around you. Doing things for everyone all the time and pushing your peace and well-being aside to please everyone is the fastest way to feel burnt out and anxious. Those people who really care about you don’t expect you to be a super hero all the time. If you find yourself saying yes to everything and then not being able to execute on what you said, you also create a situation where people can’t trust your word, which will lend itself to increased anxiety as you feel you need to fix everything.
Get enough sleep, quality food and room temperature water. You can’t function at a reasonable level mentally and spiritually without enough rest each night. You should try to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep. In terms of food eat a well balanced diet that speaks to you, if you are vegan do that, if you like meat do that. But try to eat all of the colours of the rainbow and go for organic and natural food products. Drinking 4-6 litres of room temperature water each day will also remove the toxins from your organs and make you function more efficiently through all systems of your body.
Remove people from your life who are toxic or draining. Everyone has that one friend that only talks about how hard life is or constantly discusses their ex wife or husband. Tell them to stop being so negative all the time, and if they can’t do that, consider removing them from your life by not responding or pushing them away over time. You don’t need to fix everyone’s life problems or listen to them. Everyone has their own things going on, and people who care about you won’t dump their emotional baggage all over you all the time.
Control your breathing and take slow deep breaths. If you feel anxious you don’t want to be breathing fast, as that will increase your heart rate and perpetuate things even worse. Close your eyes and get control of your breathing, going in through your nose and out through your mouth. Of course if you are wearing a mask for covid protection you may want to just do breathing in and out from your nose. Your breath is the root of your energy and learning to be mindful of it can really help you with a high quality of life.
Sit alone and in a quiet space by yourself a few times a day. Nowadays we get hit with advertising and information hundreds of times a day. Everywhere we look businesses and brands are trying to push their agendas into our minds. If you get off your phone, computer and away from your TV alone in a quiet space, preferably outside in nature, you will feel much better. You can do this indoors of course, but ideally you would be outside where the air is fresh and you can hopefully find some quiet. The Japanese call this forest-bathing and it’s prescribed by medical doctors there.
Forgive people who wronged you and move on. It’s not that you are forgiving them for what they did, it’s that you are allowing yourself closure from what happened. Dwelling on things from the past or what you could of or should have done will not get you anywhere. There is a lot of power in forgiveness. You won’t have to carry that stuff around with you anymore and you will feel way lighter. It can often help to write an email to someone who wronged you and let them know you forgive them and want them to find peace themselves. It’s a powerful gesture for a number of reasons.
Spend time helping others and people in need. When you do this the focus goes away from you and into positivity. When you see the benefits to the people you are assisting it also helps you to heal yourself. It will give you context, as you might think life is tough and hard, but other peoples stories are likely worse. If you have a working body and brain you are doing much better then a lot of people who are in wheelchairs or similar. You can volunteer with local charities and organizations to find the best places to spend your time to help your neighbours.
What are some things that you practice to reduce anxiety generally in your day to day life? Let us know in the comments section below so the community of North Vancouver can benefit from your suggestions.