4 Simple Habits to overcome Anxiety.

Today, we are going to learn about 4 little habits that reduce anxiety.

1. Morning Leeway Many people experience stress, tension, and anxiety first thing in the morning. 

From the moment you wake up, you’re rushing to get things done. You’re constantly behind schedule. Your brain is moving a million miles per hour. By the time your morning is over, your stress has skyrocketed. You feel anxious and overwhelmed. Your thoughts quickly spiral out of control. Think about how morning anxiety affects the rest of your day. You’re building on a foundation of stress. You may be fighting the same anxiety through the afternoon and evening. 

It affects your performance at work. It impacts your ability to relax when you get home. It even decreases the quality of your sleep, creating more anxiety tomorrow. So how do you reduce morning anxiety? How do you cope with stress from the moment you wake up? Believe it or not, one simple habit can transform the mood of your mornings. Instead of feeling stressed, anxious, and tense, you can start your morning on a high note. You’ll have time for everything you want to do. You’ll find space to enjoy healthy routines, and you’ll begin your day by decreasing your anxiety instead of creating more.

So, what’s this simple habit that reduces your morning anxiety? All you have to do… is wake up 15 minutes earlier. That doesn’t sound like much, does it? The truth is… we need extra time and space in the mornings. Normally, you account for the time it takes to shower, get dressed, and rush out of the house, but that’s about it. You don’t think about the spaces in between. The extra five minutes you spend lying in bed. The 60 seconds it takes to pour a bowl of cereal. The couple of minutes you spent choosing between shirts or pants. These little activities take up extra time, so you’re almost always behind schedule. Your mornings become rushed, disorganized, and stressful because you’re constantly running out of time.

What if you stretched your mornings by 15 minutes? What if you added a little wiggle room without changing your morning routine? Suddenly, you’re ahead of schedule. Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, you can take your time. You can spend a few extra minutes making breakfast. You can enjoy your coffee in front of the window and soak in the day. In other words, you’re giving yourself the wiggle room you need. That wiggle room significantly reduces your morning anxiety, which keeps you happier and more productive throughout the day.

2. Listing Hypotheticals For many people, anxiety takes shape as a flurry of irrational questions swirling around your brain. 

Let’s say you’re getting ready for a big presentation. You’re practicing your speech when your anxiety takes over. Suddenly, your brain fills with hypotheticals. What if I get something wrong? What if they hate my presentation? What if I get fired? What if I can’t find another job? Just like that, your anxious thoughts can spiral out of control, creating irrational situations out of thin air. So how do you control that downward spiral? How do you stay on top of your anxiety, cutting off these negative situations at the source? Turns out, the most effective way to control your anxiety is much easier than you think. The next time you’re asking, “what if,” grab a pen and a sheet of paper. Write down the questions in your mind and try to be as specific as possible. 

Are you worried about making a mistake? Are you worried you’re going to get fired? The key to this strategy is specificity. You need to get those hypothetical situations out of your head and onto the page. When you see your worries laid out in front of you, you may discover those situations are impossible or irrational. For example, making one mistake during a presentation is not going to get you fired. Sometimes you need to write stuff down to see the flaws in your logic. Now, let’s take this one step further. After writing down your hypotheticals, try listing three actionable behaviors you can use to make your situation easier or less stressful.

For example, if you’re worried about making a mistake during your presentation, these are three actionable behaviors you can use to solve your problem.

1 - Go back and double-check your facts.

2 - Ask a friend or a coworker to look over your work. They might see something you don’t.

2 - While you’re giving your presentation, talk slowly and carefully.

You’re more likely to make mistakes when you’re in a rush. These are just a few examples of actionable behavior you can use to reduce your anxiety. Once you put these ideas on paper, you’ve created an action plan, which directly addresses irrational thoughts and negative spirals. You may not need your action plan. You may realize right away that your thoughts are far from realistic. You may challenge your “what ifs” the moment you put them down on paper. But it’s important to remind yourself that you are in control. By listing actionable behaviors and creating an action plan, you can stay on top of your anxiety no matter what problem comes your way.

3. Concentrating Anxiety Sometimes, you’re anxious about so many things, you lose track of what’s bothering you. 

Everything in your life amplifies your anxiety, worsens your mood, and piles on a new layer of stress. What do you do when you’re overwhelmed by a million problems? Here’s what most people do. They ignore every single one of them. They pretend like their anxiety doesn’t exist. They try to power through the pain. But stressors and negative thoughts will get worse the longer you leave them unresolved. They bubble up from the back of your mind, unconsciously affecting your productivity, your happiness, and your well-being. Even if you aren’t actively anxious, passive stress weighs you down, sapping your energy and draining your motivation.

Luckily, there’s a better way to resolve your problems. Instead of neglecting your anxiety, pick one thing you’re anxious about and give that one thing 100% of your attention. When you’ve chosen a problem, use techniques like list-making to understand what is causing you anxiety. Where is it coming from? Why do you feel anxious about it? Is it a rational or irrational problem? By concentrating on a single problem, you may realize how insignificant your worries really are. Often, we think of outrageous possibilities when our minds are clouded by worries, questions, and self-doubt. 

But, when we highlight individual problems, shining a spotlight on one specific stressor, we can tackle those problems with ease. Not only are you checking one crazy possibility off your list, but you’re also reducing your total anxiety. By solving one problem, you’ve positively impacted many others. In other words, you’re teaching yourself an important lesson: you can overcome your stressors. This lesson empowers you to face more problems and overcome negative thoughts. It gives you confidence, motivation, and energy, which keep you in control of your anxiety. Even if you can’t tackle all your anxieties in one swoop, you can achieve a healthier state of mind. Just pick one problem and try your best to solve it.

4. Break Away Let’s say you’re having an anxious day.

You’ve tried to manage your anxiety, but you just can’t escape that mental spiral. Your head is filled with questions. You can’t focus. You can’t motivate yourself, and every second pushes you deeper into a pit of negativity. What do you do then? What is your last line of defense? When all else fails, there’s one habit you can use that turns your anxious thoughts upside down. Let’s say you’re sitting at your desk, wracking your brain over a project. Instead of forcing yourself to keep working, try this: stand up, leave your responsibilities behind, and break away from your usual routine. Think of this habit like a miniature vacation. 

When you’re feeling negative or out of control, you are going to escape your life, your family, and your workspace. You’re going to leave all your stressors, habits, and routines behind. And you’re going to transport yourself to a new place… and a new state of mind. Where you go is entirely up to you. Some people find peace of mind walking through a local park, enjoying the sunshine, the scenery, and the fresh air. Others take internal vacations, reducing their anxiety with mindful meditation and quiet moments of thought. While there are many ways to spend your mini vacations, there are a few things you shouldn’t do.

Don’t use this time to numb your brain. Avoid activities like watching TV, browsing social media, or playing video games. Not only do these activities make it difficult to relax, but they increase your anxiety by creating feelings of guilt, shame, and laziness. It’s also important to spend your break-aways in solitude, physically and emotionally. This is your time and your time alone. You shouldn’t be interacting with or worrying about other people. When you escape from your routines, you should be your one and only focus. Outside of these restrictions, feel free to experiment with different habits and happy places.

You may be surprised to find some activities don’t work for you as well as others. For example, meditation may not give you the same relief as walking in the park. With a little trial and error, you’ll find a miniature vacation that works for you. That way, whenever you’re overwhelmed and anxious… any time your negative thoughts get the best of you… you can break away, escape your anxiety, and change your state of mind.