Anxiety Anxiety is not scary

For me, anxiety is an oppressive feeling that sticks tightly to the wall of the heart. It will continuously send out signals to attract the attention of the brain, slowly infecting thoughts and moods like a virus, causing people to worry, fear, panic.

My anxiety usually comes when I feel like I'm not doing enough, scared, overwhelmed, and unanswered. For example,

◼ When you are a student and feel unprepared before an exam.
◼ When you find yourself saying the wrong thing unintentionally.
◼ When you are confused about your future and don't know what to do. . .

After a little comparison and analysis, I found that these things that cause my anxiety have the following characteristics :

◼ They are all things that they care about ◼ They all think they are not good enough ◼ There are unknowns and uncertainties

When I encounter any situation that fits the above characteristics, anxiety will creep in, and then "swish" my heart will be pinched, and I will suddenly feel panic and have nowhere to escape. (Although the description seems to be terrifying, this is how I feel when I am extremely anxious .)

Even though anxiety can be uncomfortable and uncomfortable, that doesn't mean it's a bad thing to stay away from.

Anxiety is a double-edged sword

Appropriate anxiety can make people motivated to explore, pursue and become a better version of themselves; but too much will affect psychological and even physical health, and it may also unintentionally "spread" to oneself on the people around you. Therefore, checking and observing your anxiety from time to time is not only responsible for yourself, but also for the people around you who love you.

To examine anxiety, we must first learn to recognize anxiety .

Here I will outline the common symptoms of anxiety for your reference:

Physical symptoms:
🔸Rapid heartbeat 🔸Soft feet 🔸Tightness in chest, difficulty breathing 🔸Frequent urination 🔸Continuous sweating 🔸Headache 🔸Trembling 🔸Need to vomit 🔸Dizziness 🔸Itchy hands and feet

Psychological symptoms:
Will feel 🔸 about to lose control, very panic 🔸 about to have a heart attack 🔸 want to vomit

Here's a video that fits the theme well, it briefly explains the sources of anxiety and teaches ways to live with it.

** Because the video does not have Chinese subtitles, I will translate and add my own ideas later.

It is mentioned in the film that anxiety is actually a mechanism that people are born with when facing danger, so that they can focus more on the current emergency situation. This is also commonly known as "Fight-or-flight response", which is called " Fight -or-flight response " in Chinese.

Because anxiety comes from fear of something, as long as the thing is resolved or doesn't exist, the anxiety will naturally subside slowly. But as I said before, proper anxiety is actually a good thing, so what we should do is to find a way to control anxiety within the range that we can bear , so that we can keep growing and moving forward without being overly nervous. .

The video offers 9 small ways to combat excessive anxiety:

1. study--
   The so-called know yourself and know the enemy will not be perilous in a hundred battles.
   To learn how to live with anxiety, we can first learn about anxiety , understand what anxiety is, and slowly figure out what works for us. I think learning is not limited to books and online information. Learning can also be about trying to understand yourself , knowing where your limits are, what methods are suitable for you, and so on. Because only you know your own feelings best, when you explore your true inner thoughts and combine them with what you feel, you can more effectively analyze your own small methods.
2. Get enough sleep-
   Have you ever tried not sleeping well the night before, and the whole person is very anxious the next day?
   To sleep is to rest the mind and body that have been active all day. The brain does a little bit of clearing of the anxiety responses that have lingered physically and psychologically during sleep. It is mentioned in the video that people sometimes dream, and it is likely that the brain is cleaning up and sorting out the anxiety in the head~ Therefore, sleeping regularly and maintaining adequate and high-quality sleep is also one of the ways to reduce anxiety.
3. do excercise--
   Getting plenty of exercise to keep your body active can help reduce the production of stress-causing hormones.
   In fact, when I think about it, it seems to be the same. I sweat profusely after exercising. Except for the whole sticky feeling that makes me uncomfortable, the warm-blooded feeling after sweating will make me more positive and more motivated . The whole person will be more positive to face the next life and challenges.
4. don't smoke-
   "A cigarette after a meal, happiness is like a fairy" Many people regard smoking as a way to decompress and relax, but science has confirmed that some substances contained in that small cigarette may cause people to fall into deeper anxiety . Because I don't smoke, I can't tell you how I felt before and after smoking and comment on it. But smoking itself is not good for the body. If you can reduce smoking, it would be good to find a way to reduce stress that is more beneficial to the body, right?
5. a good diet-
   Excessive amounts of unnatural sugar , caffeine , and alcohol in the diet can cause anxiety . Excessive consumption of these ingredients can lead to emotional instability, cause tension, affect sleep , etc., thereby aggravating the original anxiety. If you really can't change your eating habits for a while, you can try to find alternatives first. For example, replace part of the sugar in the diet with sugar substitutes; try to choose teas with less or no caffeine, such as scented tea, mint tea; when you go out with friends, you can choose non-alcoholic beverages, etc.
6. Positive thinking -
   Keep guiding yourself to think in the right direction. When people are in a very positive energy, it is not easy to feel anxious . I think this method is correct, but it seems a bit difficult to do it alone, after all, not everyone is born optimistic. Sometimes a person is unconsciously enveloped by negative energy. If someone around you can give encouragement and support, it will be easier to help the anxious person get out of the circle of excessive anxiety.
7. Imagine a successful self-
   The human brain usually does not distinguish between what is real and what is imagined . The brain is only responsible for responding accordingly to the "images" in the brain. For example, when you keep imagining yourself failing, your brain will secrete hormones that make you feel nervous, although all this is just a fantasy in your head, and it doesn't necessarily happen. If this is the case, instead of constantly imagining failure scenarios that make yourself panic and uneasy, it is better to imagine yourself succeeding, make your mentality positive and optimistic , and then face the challenges of life more calmly. Maybe that would make it easier to achieve the desired success?
8. relax--
   Relax~~~ Give your mind and body a little time to relax. You can arrange some activities you like according to the time to relax yourself and get rid of the negative energy entangled around you. It can be to think about nothing, let it go for a while, or arrange for horses and chickens to relax and enjoy, if you like to draw, you can also doodle, close your eyes, sit and meditate, in short, it is to temporarily leave the things that make you feel anxious, so that your head can be turned off reboot again. (Every time I have a problem with the computer, I will turn it off and restart, ah, it's actually the same reason~~XD)
9. receive treatment--
   Maybe many people feel that it is a shame to seek professional treatment, because generally, especially in the eyes of traditional Asians, receiving psychotherapy and seeking help is "mental". All of a sudden, the three aunts and six mothers, distant relatives and neighbors gave all kinds of ridicule and innuendo and endless pointing, causing many people to be reluctant to seek professional help even if they were sick and could no longer bear it. What I want to say is that it is not a shame to admit that you have a psychological problem , it is an act of loving yourself, being responsible for yourself, and being responsible to those who love yourself . Just because the psychological battlefield can't be seen from the outside doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and only the parties involved know the chaos inside. Take a break when you're tired, you don't need to be so strong. Find a military (professional physician) who can help you face this difficult battle, give professional advice and support behind your back, and it will definitely be easier to win a beautiful battle!

The above is the small method provided in the above video plus some of my personal thoughts.

So now I'm going to share what I usually do when I'm anxious~

⭕ Try to calm down and relax first

Every time I feel anxious, my whole body is very tense, so this time I will take a deep breath - a long inhale, then a long exhale, repeat this a few times until I feel my body relax a little. Finally, stretch and stretch.

Some people may think that when I am anxious, the sooner I can solve the problem, the better. Isn't teaching me to take a deep breath there slowly to make me more anxious?

In fact, many times, slow does not mean bad , there is a saying called "haste is not enough". It doesn't take long to take a deep breath, even if you just take a second or two to inhale and exhale. This action is mainly to slow down your thoughts a little , make your mood more calm, and make your brain more awake, rational and focused. This state is more helpful for dealing with anxiety.

⭕ Clarify the cause of anxiety and prescribe the right medicine.

As mentioned earlier, when the thing that caused the anxiety is resolved or non-existent, the anxiety will naturally subside slowly. If you want to relieve anxiety, you must first find the source of your anxiety .

When looking for the reason, sometimes the answer may not be so obvious, or if you don’t understand the reason at the moment, you can try to find someone close to you to discuss, and slowly analyze the reason step by step.

When the main causes of anxiety are identified, these are the "problems" that must be addressed . Can you think about how to overcome these problems? What is the best solution for you? Then make adjustments from it.

Of course, not everything can be solved perfectly, then we have to think about it from another angle - is the outcome of this matter within our control? If it is, then slowly find a way to solve it; if not, then no amount of anxiety will help solve the problem. It is better to calmly analyze the situation and do the best you can, then relax and wait for the result. Even if the result is not what you want, please remember that it is not in your control, and there is no need to blame yourself too much.

⭕ Do what you like to do and relax, in fact, it is faster to take it slow

When it comes to what I like to do to relax, my personal favorite things to do are "cook" and "eat" hehe, so they are naturally indispensable for decompression and anti-anxiety~~~

Some friends may feel that cooking is very stressful! But I think it 's so decompressing. XD

I think it takes concentration and patience when cooking to make the food delicious, so it is natural to take the mind out of the bad emotions and put it on the food, make good use of the ingredients, and cook the food with heart.

Prepare the ingredients (cut and cut), prepare the sauce (stir and stir), and cook (fry, stir-fry). This step-by-step process of creating something from scratch is a joy to me, and the concentration of each cooking process gives me a sense of being in the moment . If you put a lot of effort into making it delicious, you will get a small sense of accomplishment from it to balance the emotions in your life.

Since it's all about food, I'll do it. . .
Let's take a wave of self-cooked food photos~~ XD

Another thing that I find very effective for relaxation is getting in touch with nature . Go out to bask in the sun, look at the clouds, touch the flowers, breathe fresh air, and peep at squirrels XD

Because there is a park a few steps away from my house, I sometimes go there for several laps and walk slowly. Sometimes I see squirrels running around, sometimes I see someone walking out with a cute dog, sometimes I see particularly beautiful clouds, lovely flowers, and bright sunshine. . . Looking at it, I feel that the world is actually very big and beautiful. Life is not long or short, so why are you so obsessed with such things? When I think about it, I naturally don't feel so anxious.

Let me share with you what I saw when I went out for a walk~~~

Summarize:
Find a suitable way to coexist with it, anxiety is not terrible!

Well, that's it for my share of anxiety. Although it is not very professional, it is just my personal experience and opinions, but I still hope it will be helpful to everyone. Thanks for reading :)

There are a lot of pictures, hope it won't get stuck. . . please~~~🙏🏻