Anxiety
How to Handle Anxiety
- Identify patterns of anxiety or sources of anxiety
- Establish routines and good daily habits
- Reduce time on social media or news
- Get reliable information about the situation
- Make connections – find positive supports
- Focus on the present moment – practice mindfulness
- Identify positive coping strategies
- Plan how you will use coping strategies
- Focus on things you can control
- Foster positive problem solving
- Have a strategy for self-care
- Find things you enjoy – have fun
- Ask for help if you need it
3 Simple Grounding Techniques for Anxiety
- The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique
Name out loud
5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste
- Draw around your foot – in your mind
Place your feet on the ground
Using your imagination – this will all be in your mind
Start at your heel
use an imaginary pencil to slowly move up your foot to your toes
use your imaginary pencil to draw around your toes
be sure to stretch out your toes to separate them for the pencil to outline them
Repeat on the other foot
- Get your energy out
Sometimes to calm, you need to get some adrenaline-fueled energy out of your body.
Run in place
Do jumping jacks
Go up and down your stairs
Brisk walk outside
Clean the kitchen/house/yard
Dance around the house