Four Steps You Can Take to Reduce Anxiety Right Now

If you’re reading this, odds are you’re home, browsing the internet in your pajamas… and you’re feeling anxious. You might feel your muscles tensing up or your stomach turning, your breath getting short or your heart rate rising. 

We explored why this happens in an old post, which I recommend you read first. Once you do, you can put that information into action to reduce your anxiety with these four steps.

Answer the most troubling thought on your mind

The first and most important way you can reduce anxious symptoms is by taking a second and asking yourself What am I worrying about the most right now? For many, the answer will be something having to do with physical or mental symptoms. For others, it may have to do with their job or relationships. For some it may be something broader, like the political climate or state of the world.

The fastest way to reduce anxious symptoms in the moment is to answer the urge to keep worrying. By doing this, you’ll stop your body from continuing to produce adrenaline and future-proof yourself from falling back into that trap. This answer can be something short like I don’t need to worry about this right now or whatever, it’s out of my hands. I write more in depth about this in the book, so make sure to keep an eye out.

Note, answering your desire to worry is not the same as solving the problem you’re worrying about. If you’re worrying about symptoms of an illness, there is little you can do to magically make them go away. If you’re worrying about our relationship, there isn’t a pill you can take to patch things up (though a quick “I love you” doesn’t hurt).

Rather, answering this urge is about recognizing that sitting and worrying won’t get you anywhere, like scratching at an itch. By choosing to answer the urge to keep doing it, then shifting your focus to something else, you let your body relax back down to baseline, causing anxious symptoms to slowly fade away.

Recognize unhelpful behavior

There are certain behaviors that motivate us to keep mindlessly worrying - ones that we should avoid if our goal is to reduce anxiety. These include reading bad news and having overly negative discussions with friends, but also include scrolling through social media or re-reading negative old texts. Take a moment to recognize whether you’re engaging in such an activity, and then...

Shake it out

The driving force behind anxious symptoms is adrenaline. The more adrenaline we have, the stronger the symptoms we experience. However, we don’t have to just sit there and let our adrenaline go away on its own. We can put it to good use. 

By getting up and shaking it out, jogging in place, or stretching, you give your body a chance to productively use all of that pent up adrenaline, causing it to be released more quickly. If you’re feeling it, why not even do some light exercise? After all, this adrenaline can make for a more productive workout. Once you’re done moving and sitting back down, make sure to...

Engage with something meaningful

If you’ve been doing something passive like sitting and watching TV or reading a book, it can be easy to get distracted by your thoughts again and go right back to worrying. The best way to prevent that is engage in something that requires your attention - a hobby like writing or playing an instrument, or even playing a video game online. By giving yourself a more interactive activity to focus on, you’ll be spending less time worrying, leading to a reduction in anxious symptoms.

If you’re interested in more content like this, hop on my mailing list or like my Facebook page. I’ll be releasing more information about recovering from high anxiety leading up to my book.

For now, I wish you luck on your journey and hope you have a speedy recovery.