5 COPING TECHNIQUES FOR ANXIETY

Anxiety involves feelings of worry, fear, and apprehension that have cognitive, emotional, and physical effects. It can lead to negative thoughts and cause people to feel out of control.

Anxiety can hit at any time and can affect anyone to varying degrees at different times. Fortunately, there are effective strategies from the University of Rochester that you can utilize to help cope with anxiety in both the short and long term.

To begin with; STOP — take a break, breathe and give yourself permission to step away from whatever you’re doing for the next 15 minutes.

5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be a pen, a spot on the ceiling, anything in your surroundings.

4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your hair, a pillow, or the ground under your feet.

3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear. This could be any external sound. If you can hear your belly rumbling that counts! Focus on things you can hear outside of your body.

2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe you are in your office and smell pencil, or maybe you are in your bedroom and smell a pillow. If you need to take a brief walk to find a scent you could smell soap in your bathroom, or nature outside.

1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like — gum, coffee, or the sandwich from lunch?