Anxiety is a mental state of anticipation, in which we experience nerves and restlessness. It is an unpleasant sensation that puts us in tension. Anxiety is a normal response of our bodywhich interprets that we should be alert to an event close in time, but some people find themselves hijacked by anxiety and report a series of annoying symptoms and signs (psychological and somatic).
The feeling of anxiety is particularly difficult to describe, it cannot always be related to a specific origin (an exam, medical results, etc.) and it is fueled by the consequences it generates (such as the postponement of pending tasks).
Fighting anxiety and its causes
Therefore, it is difficult to cope with it, although not impossible. These five guidelines for combat anxiety They can help you mitigate their adverse effects and understand their nature better.
1. Learn to be your own boss
Anxiety is a unpleasant feeling that most of us want to avoid. The problem worsens when we decide to compensate for the state of anxiety by resorting to stereotyped and repetitive forms of behavior. These are behaviors that usually begin unconsciously, are partly automatic and can be more or less simple (stretching or pulling out one’s hair, tapping one’s leg, etc.) or somewhat more complex (making trips to the refrigerator and eating something ).
In addition to the adverse effect that these behaviors can have on our body, such as obesity or hair loss, letting ourselves be carried away by them has the disadvantage that makes us enter a vicious circle: As they are so associated with periods of stress, they act as a reminder that the feeling you want to avoid is there. Therefore, to combat anxiety it is advisable to recognize these stereotypical patterns of behavior and put a stop to them.
2. Fighting anxiety is fighting the “I’ll do it tomorrow”
Periods of anxiety may have been triggered by everyday elements that are related to work, obligations and decision making. Therefore, combating anxiety also means recognizing the situations in which this feeling can give rise to an self-fulfilling prophecy in which one’s own negative mood invites one to throw in the towel prematurely.
Anxiety is one of the forms that the fear of starting to do something that can go wrong can take and, as a consequence, is postponed time after time in a process called procrastination. Paradoxically, these postponements make anxiety have a reason, since thanks to them the obligation that generates stress is still there.
3. Divide your day into small pieces
Surely you have noticed that, from the moment you start a task that you are too lazy to do, it becomes increasingly more enjoyable and manageable. Something similar happens with anxiety: to keep your attention away from what produces tension, start an activity It is much more effective than thinking about starting that same activity.
And the fact of being aware that anxiety acts as a drag when it comes to doing things we want to do is in itself a anxiety source. If you want to ensure that what needs to be done is done without anxiety acting as a brake, there is nothing like breaking down the most complex tasks into short sequences. If you have to write a report, for example, the first task can be as simple as turning on your computer and opening a text editor. The next sequence should start from there and also be very brief (write the first paragraph, etc.).
4. Take your time
The other side of combating procrastination is making sure that we make good use of the time we give it. we dedicate ourselves to restsince spending all day doing things to try to distract our attention can be exhausting. If we do not know the source of the anxiety, this coming and going of distracting activities can act as a reminder that we are anxious, and if the source of the anxiety is in pending obligations, it can generate a feeling of guilt. That is why it is worth being methodical with the rest periods and making them allow a better orientation towards the objectives.
In addition, breathing control exercises that are included in activities such as meditation, Mindfulness or tai chi They are very useful to reduce the stress levels that set the entire anxiety machinery in motion. take some time to relax Even if the body asks otherwise, ensuring that these periods do not last longer than is necessary to properly adjust hormonal levels are two basic guidelines to combat anxiety.
From a biological point of view, Anxiety is the result of complex neuroendocrine dynamics which no one would want to have to deal with without the help of the subconscious processes that regulate them. Therefore, it is important to be clear that anxiety can only be combated indirectly. No matter how much we try to ignore the feelings of tension and fear, they are not going to go away just because our conscious mind asks them nicely.
In fact, trying to mentally suppress these biological processes is nothing more than a way of recognizing that this problem is there. For anxiety to stop being a problem, you have to fight against its symptoms by creating newbehavioral guidelines. The solution is not in the privacy of one’s own mind, but in the relationships between the body and the environment.
