Blog: 10 Ways to Reduce Anxiety

Well, it has been quite awhile since I've been able to put up a blog for you all. It's been a little hard to find time with graduation and all, but I'm ready to dive back in!

With graduation, whether from college or from high school, coming up, and life just generally going how life goes, we're all probably dealing with some anxiety right about now. So here are 10 ways, according to Psychology Today

• Make a conscious decision to deal with it!

When you deal with anxiety, the first step you have to take is making that decision to deal with it. You can let it run your life and affect every avenue of your life (work, school, family, etc.) or you can choose to take control and do something about it. Once you've made that decision you can move on to the other steps.

• Keep Yourself Busy!

This particular piece of advice is very similar to what they tell people struggling with depression, and this is why it works. It forces you to stop dwelling on all those things that are causing you anxiety. 'Cause let's face it, continuing to think about all your problems is probably not going to make them go away.

• Calm Down!

Just take a minute to calm down and relax! When you catch yourself going into a fit, just stop, take a deep breath, and calm down, because going crazy with worry and stress is not going to help you deal with your anxiety.

• Redirect Your Anxiety Into Something Positive!

You know how your mom used to tell you to punch a pillow when you were angry? This kind of the same principle. If you take all that "negative energy", so to speak, and redirect it into something positive, not only will you be spending all that energy, but you will also be helping others around you with whatever you're directing your energy into.

• Exercise!

Even if you just go on a short walk everyday, it will help you immensely! Exercise is just another constructive avenue to put all that negative energy into.

• Make a List of All the Things You're Greatful For!

This is a really great one. Why? Because so often we get so caught up in the things that are going wrong, all the things we don't have, and so on, that we forget all the stuff in our lives that is actually going right! You can say what you want, but we live in the most blessed nation in the world where our poor are considered rich in other nations. If we all just took a moment to consider that, our stresses and anxieties would be a lot less.

• Have Faith!

Nothing lasts forever, and that includes your anxiety. Just keep that in mind as you deal with your anxiety, keep that faith that you won't be in this situation forever, and it will help you get through it. 

• You May Want to Avoid Media!

For some reason, all our society wants to focus on in regards to news and such is everything that's going wrong. When you struggle with anxiety, that's probably not what you want to be filling you're mind with.

• Take Courage and Do Something New!

Doing something new that might be kind of scary is better than doing nothing and wallowing in your anxiety. It doesn't mean you shouldn't be scared, courage is doing what you know should be done even though it is scary. Do that and you'll start to be in good shape!

I hope these tips were encouraging and helpful, and that if you struggle with anxiety, that you'll be over it soon!