Anxiety can strike when you least expect it. Everyone’s experience with anxiety is different, it can grip you as soon as you wake up or it can strike at an unexpected moment. It can be something you live with for years or something that happens all of a sudden.
My own experience with anxiety is not a familiar story for many people. When changing lifestyle and the place where I lived, I became a full-on hypochondriac who thought she was dying, who never saw the end of anything. My heart would beat fast, my palms would sweat and I would cry for no reason all of a sudden. My fight or flight would kick in. Even now, I sometimes get it bad, in the form of not being able to eat and not feeling like talking to anybody.
I know so many people who have anxiety. For some of them therapy helped, but nothing manages anxiety like a good plan for the day. Giving yourself structure and sticking to it will help control your anxiety that is caused by being part of a generation that’s ‘always on’, where everything is instant and result-driven. Creating a realistic schedule will help you manage your day-to-day anxieties because there’s no quick cure or fix.
START THE DAY
When you wake up, you need to immediately get your mind prepared for the day. Make room to meditate as soon as you wake up. You can take your phone out and follow the instructions of an app, or if your phone is a source of anxiety, open your curtains, lie in bed, and try to put yourself in a positive mindset for the day.
Hop in the shower and prepare for the day. It’s always important to have breakfast: eat natural, healthy and clean foods such as fruits and vegetable. Also, do not skip meals. The things you fuel your body with will help you boost your brain and stave off anxiety.
CREATE A TO-DO LIST THAT WORKS
Having a place to write down your daily to-dos and all the other things that might be giving you anxiety is essential if you want to manage the monkey in your mind.
Sometimes just looking at your to-do list will give you anxiety, but you need to ask yourself, what is the worst that can happen if you don’t tackle everything on it? Nine times out of ten it’s this little reminder that everything will be OK at the end and it will help you tackle your to-dos and stay in control of your workload.
WORK OUT
Once your day is over, it’s important to exercise. I have always worked out in the evening as it helps me to process the day and end it with a good sweat, feeling like I won the day. Exercising will help you sleep well, too. It increases your heart rate, makes you feel better, and helps you combat the anxiety that crops up during the day.
CREATE AN EVENING ROUTINE
In the evening, have a nice balanced dinner, drink a lot of water or a cup of tea which will naturally relax you, and get yourself into the evening routine. Take a nice shower and enter into a relaxing state of mind.
I personally always turn my phone off and read before bed. Having scents in the bedroom can also make you feel calm and relaxed. I used to really struggle with sleep due to my anxiety, but now I only use the bedroom for sleeping. I never work or study there, as I used to do before, and it allows me to create a sense of inner peace and calmness for when I come home.