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There are many different situations that induce anxiety, and it’s helpful to pinpoint exactly what might be making you anxious and take steps to confront it. If you’re behind on doing your taxes, for example, you may feel like you’ve got a yoke around your shoulders until the chore is finally done.  If your job or finances are causing you stress, you may want to look for a new, better paying job. You can also get a certificate or go back to school to increase your earning potential.  Keep a journal to help you figure out what exactly is making your mood dip. Writing down your thoughts can often reveal sources of anxiety you hadn’t yet acknowledged to yourself, and give you ideas of how to confront that anxiety. Learn about anxiety as much as possible. Even just understanding how anxiety works and what causes it can help you feel more in control of it.  Even if a particular source of anxiety feels as though it is out of your control, you may be able to change something about the situation to make it feel less stressful to you. For example, if you feel anxious about the holidays months before the time to visit with family actually rolls around, figure out a way to approach the situation differently. Try hosting your extended family at your house so you won’t have to travel, or holding your celebration at a restaurant so you don’t have to host. Look at the flexible side of anxiety-inducing situations. If a certain type of situation makes you feel anxious, it’s OK to simply avoid it. If you hate flying, and don’t feel this fear is ever going to abate, it’s OK to drive. Know your limits, and practice self-preservation. However, it is important to deal with anxieties if they start to interfere with your life. For example, if you work in a profession that requires you to fly frequently, then driving is not a practical option and it would be better for you to see a therapist for help dealing with your anxiety about flying.  If you feel that your functioning (financial, social, occupational, or home) has decreased, such as from a job loss or poor review, stress on your relationships, or in some other notable way, and it is due to avoiding things that cause you anxiety, then it's time to seek out a counselor and psychiatrist. If certain people in your life cause you anxiety and you don’t feel comfortable/can’t confront them, make changes so that you don’t have to be around them. If your work or school is stressing you out, take a time during the day where you turn off your cellphone and laptop to remove yourself from the anxiety they cause. If you know you get anxious being glued to your email because of work, take it out of your life for a bit. Relaxation and meditation routines are very effective at lowering anxiety levels, especially for people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). There are many different types of meditation, so it’s best to experiment with a few different methods and choose the one that makes you feel the most comfortable and relaxed. You can practice meditation when you feel an anxiety attack coming on, or daily, to decrease your overall anxiety. Guided meditation is a good option for beginners. A guided meditation can be practiced in person, but it may be easier to buy a meditation CD or watch a meditation video on YouTube to start. You’ll learn techniques on how to calm yourself down when your heart starts to race or when you feel you are not in control of your thoughts. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on a particular thought or pattern of thoughts that make you anxious and naming the emotions that surface without passing judgment or being critical of them. If the emotions get too intense, back off a bit and focus on your breathing. This practice can be as simple as finding a quiet space to think for 5 minutes at the beginning of each day. Here is an example technique you can try:  Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Spend 5 minutes feeling the “in” and “out” movements of your breathing. Now invite in an emotion: anxiety, depression, a painful memory, a recent conflict. Hold the emotion in your mind, but don’t allow yourself to get lost in thinking. Just “sit” with the emotion as you might sit with a friend. Watch the emotion. Hold it in your conscious awareness and say, “I am here for you. I will sit with you as long as you need.” Allow the emotion to express itself and watch it change. If you sit with the emotion as a friend, the emotion will begin to transform itself and heal. . This is a process of clearing your mind of anxiety-inducing thoughts and images and replacing them with peaceful thoughts and pictures. Try using guided imagery to picture a place that you feel relaxed and safe in. As you picture the scene, focus on the details so that your mind is fully immersed in the place of your imagination. Turning your thoughts away from your anxiety to positive thoughts and images will calm both your body and your mind, and prepare your for dealing with whatever is causing you your anxiety. For many people, talking about anxiety is a very helpful release. If you need to vent, ask your spouse or a friend for advice and tell them how you feel. Sometimes just putting your feelings into words can take a lot of stress away.  Try saying something like, “I’d like to talk with you about how I’m feeling. Lately I’ve been overwhelmed by anxiety; it’s a feeling I can’t escape.” If you lean on the same person for advice too often, your problems may overburden someone else. Make sure that you’re not overwhelming your confidante. If you have a lot of anxiety to work through, consider seeing a therapist. You’ll be free to discuss your problems as much as you need to in the knowledge that a trained professional is there to help.
Confront sources of anxiety you can control. Avoid sources of anxiety you can’t control. Practice meditation. Practice mindfulness meditation. Try visualization Ask for help.