By Allan Weisbard L.C.S.W. © 2007
- Respect your own needs and let them be known. Stop, look inside, listen, and communicate your feelings. Develop realistic expectations for yourself and others. Reduce perfectionism; establish goals that are within your reach.
- Think positively by building on your strengths. Concentrate on what you do well and keep a success journal. Challenge thoughts that do not serve you. Speak kindly to yourself.
- Practice altruism therapy. Do something that you enjoy that also benefits others. Find ways to help others; it may benefit them and allow you to feel good about yourself at the same time.
- Take care of yourself. Exercise regularly, sleep adequately, and eat well. Limit TV, newspaper exposure, and engage in creative activities. Slow down instead of speeding up when anxious. Get some fresh air.
- Find help when you need it. Develop a network of professionals, family, or friends who can be a support system for you. If the anxiety becomes unmanageable for you, talk to your health care provider about medications.
- Conquer procrastination. Improve organization and time management skills. Make molehills out of mountains. Tackle unpleasant tasks sooner rather than later and break them into small steps. Although saying “No” is often difficult, realize that declining requests will reduce your anxiety later.
- Pace yourself. Develop a relaxation response while scanning your body and breathing slowly to relax your muscles. Learn and practice techniques that can help reduce your anxiety such as exercise, meditation, yoga, playing music, visualization etc.
- Break the urgency addiction. Set aside time for meeting your own needs and allow plenty of time to get things done.
- Develop a strategy and action steps for letting worries go. Change anxiety producing thought and behavior patterns. Do not waste your energy attempting to influence things you can not possibly change. Do not believe everything you think. Generally, it is not the outside event that creates the anxiety but rather your reaction to it.
- If all else fails, remember “this too shall pass.” As the famed coach Vince Lombardi said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
