If you feel anxious and worried, know that you’re not alone. This is the body’s normal reaction to stress and uncertainty. To help yourself and get through this condition more easily, we suggest you learn more about what anxiety is and how you can work with it. Impulsive behavior. Action calms you down better than inaction. People buy appliances, products, and currency, spend a lot at Vave, or purchase flight tickets.
Strategies for Experiencing Anxiety
Anxiety is triggered by external circumstances over which we have no control and by the stress reactions caused by those circumstances. There are several strategies for experiencing anxiety. These are usually unconscious impulses that help the psyche survive stress.
- You want to understand the situation better and you read more and more news. First one source, then two, then three and so on. If the news is disappointing, anxiety increases. If the news is good, there is temporary relief. But in both cases, there is a dependence on the news, a growing desire to control the situation, and with it, anxiety.
- However, anxiety still grows because what you have made is never enough. Stocks are never enough when the world around you changes so rapidly and unpredictably.
- Discussing the news. To share your anxiety with someone and reduce your anxiety, you start discussing the news. This strategy also leads to addiction and increases anxiety, because the news keeps coming and coming, and you want to discuss more and more, and the uncertainty increases.
- Thinking about plans. At first glance, this strategy appears to be the most innocuous and even useful. But it, too, going beyond the limits of reasonableness, can increase anxiety. You get stuck in a vicious circle of thinking through strategies, because every day there is fresh news, the situation changes, and plans have to be adjusted.
A reasonable question arises: what now, not to prepare, not to discuss, to isolate yourself from society?
Imagine the situation: you feel unwell. You can start googling the symptoms, endlessly going to doctors and reducing all conversations with loved ones to feelings of well-being. There is also the other extreme: ignore the ailment, even if the symptoms are really serious because it will pass on its own. Both of these behavioral strategies help to some extent to cope with anxiety, but neither of them will lead to good results. It’s the same with anxious news – if you isolate yourself completely, you might miss something important.
Radicalism in such matters is unnecessary. You have to try to develop reasonable behavior.
Sensible Behavior
Limit the flow of information. Choose a couple of news sources that you trust and try to study only them. Allocate special time for reading the news: it’s better to do it not in the morning or before going to bed and limit it to 15-30 minutes a day.
Don’t abuse the discussions. We live in a society, and it’s impossible to avoid discussing the news. But try to limit it. Don’t give in to provocations and, if you are not ready to enter into a dialogue now, offer a colleague or friend to talk about it later. Remember that in stressful situations, people react strongly to rejection, and try to explain that you are not doing it out of spite, but for your own well-being.
Carve out time for planning. There is so much news that planning for the future can bog you down 24 hours a day. Try to set aside some time for planning once every one or more days. Plan only when you are calm: how you will handle money, jobs, and housing. These issues require a cool head. And remember that clear plans have a tendency to collapse in a situation of uncertainty, it’s better to outline a general strategy of action.
The Usual Routine
Because of the anxiety and uncertainty you may begin to put off routine activities. But such living “on pause” leads to increased anxiety. Routine is the foundation of stability and well-being. Cleaning, walking, and cooking are important chores that can be enjoyable and distracting. If you find it hard to get started, try starting a timer: concentrate for 10-15 minutes on the thing that needs to be done, and then rest. That way you won’t get tired, and you can get on with your life.
Remember that it’s okay to have any feelings. Only you know how you can best live your anxiety. Do what will make you feel better: if you want to cry, cry; if you want to be angry, be angry.