Anxiety is the feeling of fear or worry, typically about a certain outcome. Fear and worry, when left unchecked, can quickly develop into anxiety. Anxiety has the ability to take over our lives and impact everything from our health to our relationships. So, what can we do when we experience anxiety in our lives?
While there is no one way to completely get rid of anxiety, there are healthy coping skills you can develop to help you deal with it. A main and healthy way to manage anxiety is to develop stress management.
What is Stress Management?
Stress Management teaches how to manage the stress in your life in order to reduce anxiety. Stress, an unwanted response that is felt when our minds cannot deal with a challenge, is often the trigger that leads to anxiety. Most of us face stressful situations on a regular basis. Because of them, we have a heightened level of anxiety.
Some of these everyday stressful situations include:
- Having to deal with angry people
- Being stuck in traffic
- Being late
- Losing your job
- Taking a big test
- Having to stand up and give a speech
Stress management will teach you how to react to these stressful events in healthy and productive ways. It is important to note that stress management skills exist to help us work through stress, not get rid of stress completely.
Improving Stress Management
If you can learn to control your stress, you can better control your anxiety. It’s that simple. But when stress gets out of control in your life, anxiety is not far behind. While stress management can be a difficult thing to learn, you can develop several good habits to help you control your stress and anxiety.
Here are some simple tips to help you start managing your stress:
- Get Organized. Get rid of the clutter around you that stops you from reaching your daily goals. Whether it is getting to school or work on time, completing a big project, or just finding time to relax and unwind, the clutter in your life can stop you cold.
- Use Affirmative or Positive Thinking. Replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk based on affirmative beliefs. This is the key to reducing unwanted reactions to stress.
- Take Charge. A great deal of stress in life can be pushed aside if you can learn to control the things you can, and let go of things you cannot control.
- Relax. Relaxation gives us the ability to think clearly and the strength we need to do our best.
- Take Care of Your Body. The link between mind and body cannot be ignored in a stress-reduction program. Each of us, no matter our age or level of fitness, can benefit from a regular fitness program.
To learn more about improving your stress management skills and our Anxiety Management program, click on the link to our Anxiety Management program brochure.
