Coping with Anxiety in Daily Life: Offering Practical Advice for Managing Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal reaction to situations in our lives that are challenging, unclear, or hurtful to us. Anxiety is an emotion that includes feelings of worry, tension, and confusion. We worry about a lot of things such as relationships, workload, future, job security, finances, health and confidence issues.

The purpose of anxiety response is to make sure a person is mentally alert, focused, and ready to deal with a risk to her life. Anxiety could be constructive if worrying makes us move in a direction to change the stressful situation, gather more information about our problem, and take concrete actions to deal with our issues. Once the stressful situation is over, anxiety gradually dissipates leaving you with better mental health.

Some of The Most Common Situations that Produces High Anxiety Include:

• Meeting new people or attending social events
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• Speaking in front of a crowd
• Worry of what people might think about you
• Being away from loved ones for a long period of time

Worrying is helpful only if leads to change in situations. Otherwise, if it is not managed well, it can turn into preoccupied thinking, repeatedly talking to people looking for reassurance that everything will go well, paying too much attention to small things in others' behaviours, delaying important decisions/actions, repeatedly checking things to make sure loved ones are safe or no mistakes are done.

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If the situation is something we cannot predict and not within a person’s full control, the anxiety is likely to become long-lasting and, consequently harder to control.

Worrying for hours on end, looking at every possible scenario that may go wrong, and scrolling online extensively about other people’s opinions on problems rarely works to give complete control over the outcome of an event, or over all the facets of our life.

It just leads to unhappiness, tiredness, not being able to sleep, and not being able to enjoy life or time with our loved ones, worsens health issues, or lowers performance at work.

At such times, having healthy and active coping skills is helpful to deal with anxiety attacks. People can manage anxiety and tension in a number of ways, such as identifying specific problems or issues in daily life, becoming mindful of unhelpful thought patterns and how they can influence our life, identifying harmful thinking and restructuring it in a way that changes how we feel, learning new actions and practicing it regularly.

Understanding the challenging problem in a better way is the first step in overcoming anxiety. Many people worry about the present or the future and tend to think more on lines of negative thoughts, unsure of what will actually happen in the future, or things that could go wrong terribly, so it becomes highly difficult to see life situations or ourselves in an accurate manner. It is helpful to look at the problem as “a signal” that something needs to change to become productive, or to grow in life, to find contentment, and not see the problem as a personal failing.

A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.

Ask yourself the following questions and answer it in brief, and concrete statement:

1. What is my situation currently? (e.g. I have too much workload which makes me anxious to meet every deadline)
2. What would I like this situation to be? (e.g. I would like to prioritise my workload after talking to my boss about it)
3. . What is the obstacle that is keeping me from what I want? (e.g. I’m unsure how to start conversation with my boss about my work duties)

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Challenges make us discover more about ourselves which perhaps would have not explored previously, and re-focus our attention onto major things in life. When people face anxiety, they find it sometimes difficult to even follow simple things, and get demotivated easily. It is beneficial to journal often our thoughts, and moods to identify any unhelpful thought patterns and emotional tendencies that distract us from achieving our goal. It is OK to fail, and it is crucial to analyse your failures in useful ways, and gently come to a place of acceptance of situations as they are unfolding in life at the moment.

Make an action plan to carry on the solutions which you felt were appropriate to address the issue. If you are unsure which solutions could be relevant to the problem, talk to someone who understands your unreasonable fears, and how worry works. While conversing with such people, let them ask you supportive questions intended to challenge your beliefs and widen your view, so that you gain a new perspective. Divide which aspects of the situation are in your control, and which ones are beyond your control. We may unintentionally cause our anxiety to rise by worrying about things that we can't control.

Your perspective could be your power or limitation. Once you’re aware of limiting thoughts, you can learn how to reframe those thoughts to be more balanced and productive. Learn relaxation and stress management techniques to know how to calm down anxiety.

Break the necessary tasks into smaller and achievable steps if it gets overwhelming to follow through. It may be tempting to avoid situations that make us anxious altogether, especially in case of social anxiety. Avoiding something you didn’t want to do might make you feel better in the moment but you will still feel anxious the next time you have to do it.

People experience tension and anxiety differently, the techniques that work for one person may not work for another. Managing anxiety is difficult as our brains are wired to experience fear and stress. We cannot get rid of anxiety completely, and avoiding negative thoughts and emotions fully is counter-productive. Trying out different strategies is often really helpful in identifying those that work best for you. Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety is one of the most frequently used tools in anxiety counselling.

If your anxiety does not go away after doing these management techniques, or if you feel that anxiety is upsetting your daily routine such as sleep, work/social life and appetite, consider talking to mental health care specialists who can help you understand and evaluate your concerns and provide you with additional techniques to manage anxiety.

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Conclusion:

In conclusion, navigating the challenges of anxiety in daily life requires a multifaceted approach rooted in self-awareness and proactive coping mechanisms. By embracing practical strategies such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and positive reframing, individuals can forge a resilient path toward managing anxiety. It is crucial to recognize that seeking support, whether through professional counseling or leaning on a supportive network, is a strength rather than a weakness. As we prioritize mental well-being, understanding that managing anxiety is an ongoing process empowers us to cultivate resilience and foster a healthier, more balanced life. By integrating these strategies into our daily routines, we can navigate the complexities of anxiety with a greater sense of control and well-being.