Anxiety Is A Beast
Talk. You will be shocked to see how much better you feel when you simply empty your mind onto someone's lap. Hearing other people's take on what you're thinking is a huge help. They will likely be able to help you think clearly again. Even the comforting thought that you have people to open up…
Anxiety is a beast. It’s a nasty, lying, ugly beast that warps a simple bad thought into about 1000 potentially horrifying outcomes that are completely and usually irrational. Leading you to believe that hypothetically awful situations will obviously happen because you thought them up. Sounds like a lovely bedtime story right?
Here are a few tips on naturally and slowly defeating the beast that is your mind.
If you’re anxious and can’t sleep, don’t try and force yourself to sleep. It doesn’t work and it will only cause frustration. Forget counting sheep, try turning on a sitcom that you love, mainly to be used as background noise; close your eyes and focus on the narratives, you’ll slowly slip into dreamland. You can also refer to YouTube if TV is unavailable. There are countless streams of calming, soothing music playlists to ease your mind.
Distract yourself. Put your headphones in and dance around the space you’re in. Tune the world out, focus on the lyrics and just move your body. You’ll be amazed how free you feel. This works with singing as well. Belt that voice out! You are your own concert tonight. If singing and dancing isn’t your thing; read. Read anything. Magazines, novels, articles on Thought Catalog. Reading is a portal to another world and when you’re anxious it’s always nice to take a vacation from your own brain and walk into someone else’s.
Talk. You will be shocked to see how much better you feel when you simply empty your mind onto someone’s lap. Hearing other people’s take on what you’re thinking is a huge help. They will likely be able to help you think clearly again. Even the comforting thought that you have people to open up to and support you is helpful enough.
Breathe. This one should be self explanatory because we do it 12-25 times per minute, however; there are certain things you should focus on to help relieve the elevated heart rate you’ve got going on and the panicky breaths.
Try imagining the air entering your lungs, filling up and traveling through your mouth and out again. Imagining the path the air takes not only distracts you, but usually reminds you to breathe calmly again.
Lastly, remember to remind yourself that you are okay. You will be okay. Write down everything in your life that you have right now. Everything you are grateful for, especially the little, but significantly huge things like having a roof above your head, a warm bed to sleep in, fresh food to eat and your health.
There are many people out there that would kill to have the issues you have, to trade spots with. Always be grateful. Train yourself to rule your mind, don’t let it rule you. 
