Anxiety is the most common of all mental disorders, it currently affects one in 13 people - about 7.3% of the global population (Baxter, Scott, Vos, and Whiteford, 2013) and manifests in a variety of ways depending on the individual. It can be expressed in panic attacks, excess stress, fear, dizziness, nausea, tremors, shortness of breath, irritability, insomnia and much more. Basically, it is massively varied and highly individualised, therefore everyone handles it differently.
Anxiety has been a factor in my life for a few years now and it has its cycles. Some months it is non-existent and some months it is almost unbearable. But through the years I've developed a few ways to deal with it.
Accepting it
This isn’t really a practical solution but shying away from mental health issues often makes them worse. To be embarrassed by it or ashamed of admitting it often adds to the stigma surrounding it and can lead to a fear of ostracism, in my case this led to isolation and heightened anxiety. I find that since accepting it as part of my everyday life, part of my personality and part of the challenges I face. I have since felt that the fear surrounding my anxiety has dissolved and in turn, it has become easier to deal with myself, and easier for those I love to deal with since they understand the more I talk about it.
Focus Activities
This sounds very ‘clinical’ and structured, but this simply means small activities that are easy to do, anywhere and anytime that allow you to focus. For me, this is the greatest thing for dealing with anxiety as it strikes at the root. My anxiety is rooted in a fear of losing control and a resulting onslaught of seemingly big issues that I can’t break down and handle. Focus activities allow you to regain control of the thoughts and fears in your mind through reduction of thought on a single point of focus.
My first example of this is my habit of drawing cities; simply find a page that you’ll have with you most of the time and draw for as long as it takes to ‘focus’. My page is in my diary, on a blank unused page and sometimes I draw for two minutes, sometimes 15 minutes, it requires a degree of planning, structure, focus and thought but also creativity and appreciation for my memories of beautiful aspects in cities I have visited. When I draw my cities, I imagine the people that live there, the sounds, the smells, the language, the food, the vehicles and the season. It helps me to zone into the finer details and appreciate them, it detracts from the levels of stress surrounding me and allows me to construct plans of action for handling the issues I'm facing.
Adult colouring has a similar effect, it has a long and vast history and has now entered the mainstream. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist, prescribed colouring of mandalas to his psychiatric patients, he believed it enabled people to be more social, trained the brain to focus, encouraged individuality, helped motor skills and vision and most importantly… it has been proven that colouring relaxes the fear centre of your brain, the amygdala, it is meditative and enables you to retrain the amygdala for a healthier response to stress. It means you have an excuse to set aside some of your free-time for colouring knowing that there will be a lasting benefit.
Reading
Reading is well known to improve mental stimulation, increase knowledge, expand your vocabulary, improve memory functioning, facilitate critical thinking, focus and concentration, and above all provides tranquillity and reduces stress even in the loudest of places. I have tried to make a habit of reading a chapter a day, and in my last couple of months at university, I have really started to appreciate reading as I did when I was young. Reading offers an escape, as does writing, but also facilitates healthy brain processes and contributes to overall mental resilience. It establishes a quiet mental space and again, like the activities above creates a focus that allows the rest of the brain to quieten and return to normal functioning in order to handle issues associated with anxiety.
Learning a language
Finally, something I find helpful, constructive, fun and challenging. Studies have found that that multilingualism aids multitasking, improves memory, protects against Alzheimer's and dementia, improves decision-making skills, makes you more perceptive and generally contributes to the overall health of the brain. Again, it is a matter of focus... I wake up, go on Duolingo, complete a couple of lessons and it starts my day in a constructive way and makes me feel more positive for the day ahead.
If you struggle with anxiety, I hope some of the things above can help. In light of everything I've spoken about in this post, one thing I have to reiterate is that anxiety is highly individual and healthy constructive coping mechanisms aren't easily found. For me it was almost 3 years of trial and error to learn what is best for me - by no means am I saying I'm 100% on top of it, I still have days where I would rather lay in bed watching Criminal Minds for hours, and that’s okay. However, what matters is that I've found a way for anxiety to be a positive part of my life, instead of holding me back.