Stop Anxiety in Its Tracks

You’re late for a meeting, your girlfriend just sent you an angry text, and your heart is pounding. You chest starts to feel tight as if chains are locked around you, and it begins to hurt.

Anxiety can manifest itself in a variety of ways from chest pains to heart palpitations to even hives. While anxiety typically stays away from your personal space, it can piggy back onto your social and romantic relationships easily. With Christmas fast approaching, everyone under the sun will be throwing a party. You might be expected to meet your partner’s family or attend the dreaded office party. Here are a few tips (Oz, 2011) to help you stop anxiety in its tracks this holiday season:

Arrive early to your destination.
To help alleviate anxiety caused by social gatherings, plan to arrive early to your destination. If you’re meeting your boyfriend’s parents for dinner, get to the restaurant five minutes early. Simply by being in a social setting before it takes place can help you feel more in control and more comfortable.

Give yourself one more reason to exercise.
Exercise, for the most part, is an effective means of fighting anything from medical conditions such as obesity to depression. It’s also a great way to reduce anxiety. Whether you’re struggling with your girlfriend or feeling the pressure at work, exercise can help. It’ll give you a way to physically vent your frustrations, help you clear your mind, and boost your self-confidence. When you feel better about your body, you feel better about life and its problems seem easier to handle. Exercise will also help undo damage stress can cause to your body such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Try to exercise the week before your Christmas gathering or the day of to help harness your anxiety.

Enjoy the little things.
Do you like ordering your favorite latte? Maybe you love to listen to your beloved music playlist? Or do you love to window shop? When you start to feel anxiety come on strong, do what makes you feel better. By knowing what simple pleasures in life make you feel more at ease, you will be able to control anxiety before it starts to control you. If you’re at a party, take a moment to step outside or use the restroom. If music helps, bring your iPod with you so you can listen to it in a moment of tension. Remove yourself from the situation and take a breather. The ability to appreciate the positive situations and events in your life is key to thriving in any stressful situation (Epel, Daubenmier, Moskowitz, Folkman, & Blackburn, 2009).

If that doesn’t help, start by appreciating one of the many Christmas desserts nearest to you.

Sources:
Epel, E., Daubenmier, J., Moskowitz, J. T., Folkman, S., & Blackburn, E. (2009). Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1172, 34-53.

Oz, M. (2011, December). Easy does it. Time, 178(22), 69.

By Brittany Roshelle Davis