10 Smart Ways to Deal with Stress and Anxiety

Your family, work, friends, or relationship – at a point in your life-you worried about those. Sometimes, you worry way too much about them. They become the source of your stress and anxiety. How do you deal with them? Check out these ten smart ways to deal with stress and anxiety and see those that will work for you.

1. Shrink the source of your stress and anxiety.
Examine yourself and trace the source of your anxiety. Summarize it in a word, and imagine that word as something like a keychain. Then, put it away. When it tries to get back, throw it away again. Do this process over and over until you succeed in keeping that word at bay. This technique does not address the cause of your stress, but it can help you prevent it from getting into your system. With this kind of imagination, you can also feel more confident in dealing with it. Of course, you’re bigger than the cause of your stress.

2. Distance yourself from the cause of your stress and anxiety.
If the cause of your stress is what you see on your social media, deactivate your account or refrain from visiting your accounts until you’re okay. If the cause of your stress is your work, take a leave of absence, or take a break from your desk. Staying away from the cause of your stress and anxiety even for a little while can help you recharge your spirit and avoid completely giving up.

3. See the doughnut and not the hole.
Practicing the art of positivity can also help you deal with stress and anxiety. If you are stressed with your work, remember that not everyone has a source of income. And lucky you, you have one. It might be a stressful one, but you’ve got one less issue to worry about – your expenses. That’s just one example of how you can be positive. So, instead of seeing the hole and complaining about it, focus on the doughnut instead.

4. Do something that makes you happy.
Do you love doodling? Are you a fan of colors? Does playing computer games make you feel relaxed? If your answer is affirmative, go ahead and spend some time doing the things that you love. Wake up a little bit earlier than usual and work on a coloring book. If you’re in the office and anxiety started to kick in, take a break and doodle.  You can also reward yourself by playing for like an hour after work because you survived the day. Remember to love yourself.

5. Have a cup of coffee with who you love.
Having someone to talk to can be a great stress reliever. Talking does not always solve the problem, but it will make you feel relieved if you somehow shared what you’re feeling with someone else. They might also show you a different way of looking at your situation. Don’t be afraid to share what you are experiencing with others. Just make sure you aren’t talking to shady people who will bring you down instead of lifting you. Choose your squad wisely, and with them, you can deal with the causes of your stress and anxiety.

6. Soak yourself in the sun.
The warmth that the rays of the sun give can invigorate your tired heart. So, why not spend a few minutes out there? Relax and take deep breaths. Close your eyes and be conscious of your surroundings using your other senses. Doing so can clear your mind. From there, you can review the causes of your stress and anxiety and examine if you just got overwhelmed by something that is actually easy to handle.

7. Listen to an uplifting song.
What is that song that makes you imagine you are a cheerleader? What is that song that makes you the greatest hero in your own movie? What is that song that calms your heart and keeps you brave? Listen to it. Songs can change a person’s mood, so if you listen to a song that can uplift your mood, you can deal with your stress and anxiety.

8. Write and burn.
Write about the cause of your stress and anxiety on a piece of paper and burn it. Burn it away from your mind that is. Writing is therapeutic because it helps you transfer the thoughts running in your head to a paper, a silent listener who will keep what you wrote for itself for the rest of its life. If you don’t give your stressful thoughts an outlet, they will keep running in your head and ruining your day. So, stop them by tattooing them on a piece of paper.

9. Address the cause of your stress and anxiety.
What are you stressed about? What makes you feel anxious? Trace them and see if you can address them and how you can address them. If the cause of your stress is your upcoming report, prepare for it, so you can convince yourself that there is nothing to worry about. Do you worry that all of a sudden, you lose what you prepared for that report? Save your files on your laptop or computer. Have a back-up in different flash drives. Also, save them in your email or drive. Now that you did everything you can, you have nothing left to worry about.

10. Let go.
Learn to let go of the things that are out of your hands. Sometimes, you are worrying too much about something you really can’t do anything about. For example, suddenly, there’s heavy traffic because of an accident, and you know you will be late. Why stress yourself? Thinking too much about the situation will not undo the accident and will not make the clearing operations faster. It will also not teleport you to where you should be. So, if the cause of your stress is out of your hands, convince yourself to stop worrying about it.

Enjoy life by living a stress-free one!

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Marielle Sunico

Wherever there is art, there is her heart. Marielle loves anything related to arts and literature. She’s into calligraphy, photography, writing and everything in between.