How I Manage my Anxiety

From my experiences, anxiety has always been a make it or break it thing for me. I can either let it break me by allowing it to consume my mind, consume my thoughts and my decision-making confidence. Or I can use it as a guide to see where the anxiety is coming from and make wiser choices with it. Basically, flipping my anxiety around into energy or into some kind of logic, for my own advantage. Now with me being diagnosed with C-PTSD, it’s so important now for me to flip it for my own well-being. 

Before I really educated myself on what anxiety looked or felt like. I let it keep me stuck, I let it consume me, I made an identity out of it. Now, I understand that the small doses that the body gives off, are actually meant to help my make decisions in stressful times but I didn’t see that until only recently. I used to be on anti-depressants for my anxiety, until I realized that the happiness and calmness that I got from the medication felt artificial, and I really wanted to make it a more natural feeling within myself! I was on those only for a short time until I got annoyed with taking a pill every morning and having to pay for it, when I could’ve just listened to myself and create a calmness in my life that aligned with me.  

Now, I’m not saying that anxiety medication is not the “go-to”. If you need it, I’m for it! Your mind, your body, your experiences are your own. I’m an advocate for medication if the person needs it as well as holistic practices, if “natural” is your safe net.  

So, with that said, these are some of practices that I use to help me manage my anxiety on the daily! They bring me a sense of peace, allow me to listen to myself, and allow me to navigate what emotions come with the anxiety in those current moments: taking a walk in the park/nature, listen to calming music, journalize my thoughts, feelings, and categorize them, laugh & smile often, cry, pausing & breathing in the tougher moments to recollect thoughts and surroundings, & any type of body movement (especially stretching!).  Just to name a few! These also help keep my focus on the more positive side of anxiety and that was something that I used to find challenging with and still do sometimes, from time to time. For those that are scattered- brained, these help to kind of get rid of the brain “clutter” for me.  

Now every person is different, so these may work for you, & they may not. But I, at least, hope you can resonate with the idea that if you have anxiety, no matter the “severity” level, you’re not alone love and there’s resources out there also to manage It better. 

Take care of yourself, 

Nessa <3