Tips On Dealing With Anxiety

This is a different type of post for me. I feel more vulnerable writing it but I want to share my tips and what gets me through things with other people. I like to think it will help someone out there similar to me. I've had this written for about 6 months and haven't had the courage to post it.

I've not been 'diagnosed' with anxiety but out of all the sorts of mental illness' you can suffer from, I'm pretty sure you'll know yourself how you're feeling, you don't need someone else to justify it for you. They won't ever know exactly what you're feeling anyway. I'm not super severe also so. Anyway, I get anxious a lot. Most of the time I can't even explain why I get it. Other times it makes more sense. I know everyone deals with anxiety and some people do more than others so I think we should all be more supportive of one another and if someone feels anxious about something we should know better than to give out or tell them to get over it, but to understand and listen a little.

I don't know how to stop feeling nervous about certain things but I know somethings that help me and calm me down or distract me. For example, I know that being near or seeing the ocean helps me feel at peace and calms me down, there's something relaxing about it, if it's calm.

• My number one tip is to control your breathing. If you're in anyway panicked about something, finding it hard to breath will make the situation worse. Even if you're anxious and breathing normally, focusing on your breathing should still relax your nerves a little. It helps you focus on yourself and not your surroundings and helps you distract yourself from whatever is bothering you, while calming your body. I normally breath in for about seven seconds and out for five. Taking deeper breaths helps a lot I find.
• Depending on what I'm anxious over, I'll most likely try and talk to someone close to me if I can. It helps a whole lot knowing you can talk to someone and feel more comfortable and knowing that someone's willing to understand. If there's no one I feel comfortable around with me or I'm in a situation makes me uncomfortable, the only thing that's best is to remove yourself from the situation if you can.
• If I can I think the best thing to do if your feeling overwhelmed is actually to cry and let it out. There's no use bottling emotions if they're upsetting you. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to stop myself from crying in public because it's difficult when there's a lot of people watching, even if they're not actually.
• If you're around people who make you uncomfortable, try and avoid them as much as you can. If you can't, avoid as much contact as you can. Give yourself space. If it's a certain place that makes you uncomfortable, again, avoid it.
• If you need to calm yourself listen to some sort of music. See which type of music suits your mood. It could be heavy or quiet, different music will sooth different anxieties and emotions. Sing your favourite song or get lost in the emotions of the lyrics, especially if they match your own.
• Do something to distract yourself. Do something you love doing and use these emotions for something useful like painting a picture, writing a song or putting them into whatever hobby you have. You'll find yourself forgetting the problem and getting into whatever you're doing.
• Reassure yourself over and over that it's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay and it always will be. The things we worry about are never normally a reality. We need to take a step back from the situation. 

I find when I over think I get anxious and I'm trying hard to stop thinking so negatively about things, it's really hard to stop doing things unconsciously but it's definitely worth a try. Sometimes it takes time to know why and figure out why things make you feel a certain way and you need to put thought into where and when you have anxious feelings and try and see if it makes sense in anyway, speaking for the random bursts of anxiety/panic attacks. That would be my main advice for trying to control our emotions and avoiding similar outbursts.

Recently I've been trying to be more open about it and to feel less stupid when talking about this topic, being personal it's kinda hard. I would much more likely talk to one of my friends to help me sort it out now rather than by myself. I also know that sometimes no matter how hard you try you can't always be in control of your feelings and it's okay to be able to let it all out and not stop it. 

If anyone needs someone to talk to about anxiety or panic attacks or anything really please feel free to contact me and I'll try my best to help. Please note I am no where near a professional and can only offer advice and understanding, basically all this post is. All I want to achieve from this post is to be able to speak about this openly and see if it helps other people or is just a reassurance for anyone that they're not alone. I really love seeing other people post about this as it makes me feel less irrational and annoying and more normal, especially because it is a completely normal thing.