THIRTY-FIVE ANXIETY-DEFLATING STRATEGIES

Strategies You Can Use For Reducing Your Anxiety Level.

1. Recognize what you’re anxious about.
2. Practice deep breathing.
3. Remove yourself briefly from the anxious situation.
4. Laugh at yourself as you watch yourself in a mirror.
5. Express your feelings to someone or write them in
a journal.
6. Chat with someone to distract your mind.
7. Engage in a physical activity (i.e. take a walk, dance, etc.).
8. Do repetitious, high-focus tasks (i.e. simple math problems,
copy names and phone numbers from the phone book).
9. Do something you really enjoy (i.e. take a bath, watch a
movie on your VCR).
10. Practice thought stopping. For example, shout the word
“Stop” in your mind whenever an anxious thought appears.
Then replace it with a word like “Calm.”
11. Watch your anxiety on the “big screen” as if it were a
movie about someone else. Watch it like an objective observer,
a member of the audience.
12. Focus intently on a person or object. For example, watch
the individual hairs on your dog’s head. Count the creases on
the bottom of your foot.
13. Remind yourself that these sensations are completely
normal fight or flight responses. It would be strange if you
felt had a flight or fight response and didn’t experience these
physical reactions. You are not in danger.
14. Ask the question: “What problem do I have at this
moment?” This helps you to focus on the present.
15. Tell yourself one thing you like about yourself.
Repeat it aloud over and over.
16. Make silly faces at someone else, or at yourself in
the mirror.

17. Pick an upbeat song as your theme song. Dance
and sing aloud to it in a confident voice.
18. Eat a nutritious snack. Then distract yourself
for 10-15 minutes and notice how much better you feel.
19. Watch an engaging TV program.
20. Pet an animal.
21. Give or receive physical affection.
22. Visualize your center of gravity being your feet.
You are a 100-year-old oak tree and you are centered
and steady. The anxiety symptoms are the breeze.
They simply float by you. You are unaffected by them.
23. Have a mental picture of your “anxiety beast.”
Picture it as an animated cartoon character, harmless
and funny. Distort the beast’s physical characteristics
to make him look funny when you feel anxiety
coming on.
24. Treat the anxiety symptoms as you would
a mischievous child. Give it the constructive attention
it needs without giving in to its temper tantrums.
25. Visualize the anxiety as a little child. Hug the
child and tell it there is nothing to worry about.
You are here for him or her. The symptoms are
not dangerous and are a momentary interruption.
26. Connect with nature (i.e. watch the trees or the stars).
27. Go to an online support group and talk about what’s
going on inside.
28. Give yourself permission to feel anxious.
29. Give yourself permission to have an attack if needed.
Have the attack in a safe environment. Then continue
with your day.
30. Tell yourself that if you have an anxiety attack it’s
no big deal. It won’t affect your day.
31. When the anxiety beast appears, think of it as a silly,
goofy monster that is playing a game with you and trying
to scare you into anxiety. Call its bluff. Talk to it.
it off. Tease it. Show it you’re not afraid of it.
32. Wear a rubber band around your wrist. Snap it each
time you have an anxious thought and replace it with
a positive affirmation.
33. Visualize you tripping up the anxiety beast:
i.e. it slips on a banana peel, you smack it with
a huge pillow, you douse it with your squirt gun, etc.
34. Make noises. For example, if your face is numb or
trembling try buzzing your lips for as long as you can.
35. Give yourself a designated time and place every day
to feel anxious for twenty minutes. Set your timer.
Use the time to express your anxiety however
you like (yell, write your anxious thoughts in a journal).
Once the buzzer rings, stop and continue with your day.