What You Should Know About Dealing With Anxiety In Today’s Turbulent World

Life can be difficult for everyone at a certain time, but if you suffer from anxiety issues, it's simply unbearable. Almost everyone is going through anxiety at some point in their lives. This is a feeling of fear, worry, doubt, and all mixtures of negative emotions.

Okay, so besides the normal day-to-day hustle and immense stress of daily living in the modern world, we now have a pandemic to contend with.

This condition produces many different mental and physical symptoms. There are so many situations when people would have to deal with anxiety. In fact, anything that makes you nervous is a cause to make you go through anxiety.

For normal people, dealing with this condition is normal. They may feel anxious over a situation at some point, but when the situation passes, they will get back to their normal emotions. However, this condition worsens when a person is not able to be normal again. This is the time that one will need tips and advice on how to deal with it successfully.

Fear and anxiety can take complete control of your life and make you miserable. This article contains helpful advice on how to face your anxiety and take measures to control it.

Unfortunately, dealing with anxiety and at times depression becomes somewhat of a normal part of life for many individuals in the world today. Although this problem is not necessarily a new phenomenon, there are certain aspects of modern times that have served to exacerbate the issue.

Anxiety Defined

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

In short, anxiety is an intense feeling of fear for no real reason.
To be worried or panic or even to feel scared if you are under pressure, is normal and this is not what causes anxiety.

Your body naturally responds to danger. It can be explained as an alarm that is going off to warn you that you are under some form of danger.

It is when this feeling of fear becomes a constant feeling and starts interfering with your daily life activities that you should address it immediately.

Why is this?

Due to our world being so connected through the internet, social media and other forms of media, people today are not only exposed to the issues in their immediate environment. Instead, we are shown all of the bad things taking place across the entire globe. Furthermore, we are expected to juggle so many more responsibilities at one time, all while being as productive as possible.

You see life is all about choices and the fact of the matter is that a lot of people make the wrong choices due to which they become victims to anxiety and panic attacks. It's always better to study the cause before you can look for possible solutions to your anxiety problems.

Focusing on the negative all the time.

We live in a society where most people are negative and often this negativity becomes the reason for our ill-health. We fill ourselves with negative thoughts day by day where it gets to a level where we just simply cannot handle it anymore and we end up having an anxiety attack.

You see this is the main reason why it's extremely important to try and focus on the positive and try to avoid the negative.

Surrounding yourself with negative people.

Your environment has a lot to do with your mental health. If you are in the company of highly negative people who constantly tell you things that are highly negative then you will become pretty much the same as well.

Negative thinking would become a very common thing for you which would eventually give birth to fear which might lead to anxiety.

Using the wrong type of mental pictures.

Do you know that human beings normally tend to think with pictures and your feelings are a result of your thoughts and the type of images you see in your mind?

If you expect the worst out of every situation then you will always see negative images in your mind which would affect the way you feel and you might fall prey to anxiety.

The Bible says in Proverbs 12:25 says: "An anxious heart weighs a man down; but a kind word cheers him up." Very true indeed!

Although anxiety certainly varies in intensity and frequency from person to person, there are a few ways to deal with the problem. This article intends to discuss a few of these techniques in order to alleviate some of your anxiety, hopefully improving your overall quality of life.

Symptoms of Anxiety

Restlessness and insomnia

Anxiety disorder causes restlessness and insomnia in most people. Once a feeling of anxiousness & feeling of being on the edge is experienced that is directed towards a person's life, thoughts of fear will keep rushing through his mind. This results in difficulty and inability to relax.

Exhaustion

Partially due to the inability to relax, exhaustion will become visible. This emotional impact triggers some hormones not to be released from his body. As soon as no epinephrine, cortical or adrenaline hormones are being released, the body reacts in an attempt to fight against the anxiety attack. You may experience the tension of muscles, increased heartbeat, or a rise in blood pressure.

Unfortunately, the body will keep reacting this way until the anxiety feeling subsides. This ongoing fight of your body to counteract your emotional distress wears your body down.

Cognitive Disruptions

Cognitive disruption might be one of the anxiety symptoms in men that will directly affect daily activities. It might manifest in different ways, such as being nervous or anxious; some might also experience irritability or becoming more impatient.

Although these symptoms might be normal, it is when your anxiety becomes excessive and seems to focus on specific areas of your life that you should be careful. Cognitive disruptions most probably will not be present all the time, but it will frequently distract your thoughts. You will also experience that it is affecting your concentration level.

Fear of Social Interactions

This will also cause one to have certain fears in different situations like socializing. With this condition, one will somehow get stuck in the feeling of fear. This makes one be halted from doing different things and activities which will affect one's individuality and character.

Respiratory Disturbances

Blood pressure and an increased heart rate, as mentioned before, as some of the anxiety symptoms. Shortness of breath or the inability to get your breath back to normal will cause you to feel dizzy. This might frequently impact you and will result in the respiratory disturbance.

Digestive Problems

One of the more common anxiety symptoms is digestive problems. The psychological state of the body reacting to stress causes hormonal changes, which result in loss of appetite or even nausea and diarrhea.

More Common Symptoms

Remember the feeling of being extremely scared, nervous, or anxious -- most likely you sweated a bit. If you multiply that state by the number 10, imagine the amount of excessive perspiration. Headaches directly after experiencing an emotional response is the most common anxiety symptoms in men.

Tips for Dealing with Anxiety

One of the first steps we have to take when we are dealing with anxiety is to become a STUDENT of our anxiety. Only by studying your current behaviors and your reactions to your anxiety can you truly overcome or alleviate its harmful effects.

These tips do not require that you change any of your behaviors; it simply requires that you begin to notice your behaviors and thoughts and how they are affecting your anxiety.

Take note that anxiety can make your life miserable. If you are dismissing it and not facing it, you may be delaying the technique on how to overcome it.

It is time to stop running, to turn around, and face that anxiety 'monster' head-on. Sun Tzu said, "Know your enemy." This quote is popular in competition or in business but this applies to how to deal with anxiety as well. You must know your enemy before you can defeat your enemy. You must know everything you can about this anxiety monster, learn what it looks like, what it feels like, what it does to you. Then, and only then, will you be ready to begin dealing with your anxiety.

1) Keep a journal

One of the best ways to keep track of your anxiety is to keep a journal. Each time you experience an anxiety attack or a panic attack, note the time the date, and what activities you were engaged in. If you were sitting on the couch watching TV, then put that down in your journal. Whatever you were doing at the time of the attack, write it down.

Write down how you feel. What reactions are you having to the anxiety? Keep track of how long the attack lasts. It is very important to stay organized. Without a journal, it is more difficult to notice if you are making progress and improving.

A simple notebook that is small and easy to carry will suffice. You are not writing a book or a term paper, keep it simple. Write in terms that you will be able to look at a week later and remember what you were talking about.

Also remember, this is your private notebook, so be honest in it. Do not exaggerate or understate your feelings. Be as objective as you possibly can. Stick with it and over time, you may notice your anxiety attacks are not lasting as long or you may start to notice a pattern to your attacks. All of this is very useful information while dealing with anxiety.

2) Live in the moment

Although it may seem obvious when stated, the only point in time in which you will EVER exist is right now. Ironically, most of us dedicate the bulk of our mental energy to the past or future. Anxiety is great at causing us to replay past mistakes in our heads and constantly worry about things that have yet to occur.

A big part of dealing with anxiety is living in the moment. This means focusing all of your physical and mental energy on what is going on right now. Not only does this simplify life, but it also allows you to get the most out of your limited time.

Trying to deal with your entire past and future on a constant basis makes it virtually impossible to appreciate what is right in front of you.

3) Stay away from alcohol and prohibited drugs

Staying away from alcohol, foods, and drinks that contain caffeine, may be wise if you suffer from anxiety. Both of these items contain ingredients that can set off and make anxiety much worse. Try drinking more water instead and try out decaffeinated versions of your favorite beverages like coffee or tea.

4) Exercise often

One of the ways you can feel better during the day and help reduce anxiety is to stretch the body. A little stretching, aerobics, or morning exercise may help you get a better start to your day.

Working out, regardless of what activity you choose to engage in, will help you feel less anxious. Studies have shown that aerobic activities can help people as much as some kinds of medication. They are able to alter the way the brain works, even protecting it to a certain extent.

When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which are natural pain killers that will make you feel better. Not only will you feel more positive, and decrease the stress that is causing your anxiety, you will get in good shape, too!

5) Meditate and listen to inspirational messages

Some problems like stress, anxiety, insomnia are a direct effect of how we live our lives, especially when a fast-paced society is directing our lifestyles. Meditation works as a brake to all these problems and also a way to know them and their causes.

When you start practicing meditation, your tensions start dissolving. Stress reduction, anxiety relief, and other related problems are reduced as a secondary benefit from the practice of meditation. They don't go like a miracle but certainly, get reduced. What happens is that your mind becomes stronger to deal with all kinds of problems and meditation gives you a completely new set of tools to cope with these situations.

Most of the time, the ideas we stories we tell ourselves cause us to be anxious. Spending time in meditation and prayers and just a plain state of gratitude reminds us of our true value and worth. I would highly recommend that you listen to music and watch beautiful sceneries.

6) Stay away from toxic people.

Spend less time with people who cause you to feel anxious. Limiting your exposure to toxic or negative people who somehow always seem to make you feel bad is a step forward in reducing your feelings of anxiety. Setting boundaries that are healthy and respectful are a good way to protect yourself from the influence of others.

7) Laugh often

Laughter is great medicine when you are dealing with anxiety, and it can play a key role in reducing anxiety and panic attacks. Watch a funny movie, read a book that makes you chuckle, or call a funny friend to get yourself laughing for some good therapy.

Laughter releases endorphins that can help banish anxiety, and distract your mind from the stressful situation that you are dealing with.

8) Take time to rest

Find time to relax. It is not always possible to take a lengthy vacation in order to remove stress. However, almost everyone has at least one day off per week.

During your day off, try to get out of your normal routine and do something relaxing like going fishing, camping, or hiking in nature. You will find you can reduce your anxiety quite a bit when you take some time to relax and enjoy your life.

9) Get help if you need it

Finally, if your anxiety is something you are having trouble dealing with on your own, then don’t! There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking professional help for this issue.

Ironically, our society welcomes getting help for even minor physical ailments but acts as if doing the same for a serious mental issue is taboo.

Consider this, if you had the flu, you would most certainly seek the appropriate doctor to take care of it. Why would you not seek a doctor that is medically trained in alleviating mental health issues if you are dealing with anxiety? There is help out there, get it if you need it!

Therapy can help you isolate the triggers that cause these attacks and help you to remove them. Talk to a therapist who can help you sort out your triggers. Whether at work or home, many anxiety sufferers have certain hot buttons. When these are pressed, the anxiety floods in easily and stops coherent action.

Bear in mind that relying on medications is not really a good option as it will only make one depend on it even more increasing their intake.

2 Important Thoughts on Dealing with Anxiety

Control What You Can Control

The truth is, many of the issues causing anxiety in your life are beyond your control. This includes global and community issues as well as problems in your personal life.

What you need to realize is that the weight of the world is NOT on your shoulders, even though it can certainly seem like it at times. Anxiety tells you that you should be worried about solving problems that are way out of your hands.

In reality, focusing on the issues that you actually have the ability to resolve is a much healthier response to a problem-filled world.

It’s Okay To Not Feel Okay

Another side effect of anxiety is a feeling of isolation. People experiencing anxiety on a routine basis tend to feel like they are the only ones dealing with this issue.

Because of this perspective, we often feel like everyone else is much happier than we are and we won’t be accepted if anyone else knew the extent of our anxiety. It is so important to realize that this is far from the truth.

Everyone around you is experiencing some degree of anxiety or mental hang up. You are far from alone. Don’t feel like you have to go through life acting as if everything is okay when it isn’t.

Helping a Family Member Deal with Anxiety

So you have a family member, or a close friend who is in a constant cycle of fear, and is currently dealing with anxiety? Are you in a state when it seems no answer is at hand?
I want to share with you a few suggestions that will make you a better support group or team for someone dealing with anxiety.

• The first thing you need to do is to become educated for the family member who is dealing with anxiety.

If it is a panic disorder or panic attack, you need to learn why and how the panic attacks occur. Learn what natural steps are available that have worked for others. Bottom line is to start learning what it is like to be in the shoes of someone dealing with anxiety.

• Practice patience and understanding.

Do not say to the person dealing with anxiety 'one-liner' advice such as "learn to relax", or "give it time and it will pass." This kind of one-liners don't help but in fact, may set up a wall between you and the family member dealing with anxiety because they slowly stop believing you will be of valuable help to them. By practicing patience and understanding, the bond between you two will grow.

• Show the person dealing with anxiety that managing fear and moving past anxiety takes practice.

Not only does it take practice, but it also takes proper tools to practice with. For the anxiety sufferer, it is important to keep things very simple, but effective. Tools have worked for others, and are proven to work if the habit of using them daily. One effective tool is visualization sessions or listening to inspirational audio messages. What if you are doing a visualization session but the guide's voice bugs you. Be conscious of this in order to bring success in how to deal with anxiety.

Conclusion

In summary, anxiety really sucks. That’s why we are encouraging you to read these amazing quotes on how to deal with anxiety and stress. They are the perfect reminder that the surmounting anxiety in your mind does not define who you are. Remember, you are not alone in your fight against it.

Learn to let go and realize the situation is out of your control. Look around and say "thank you" aloud for the many people and things you are blessed with.

And never give up! Tomorrow is another chance to deal with anxiety.