Dealing With Stress And Anxiety

And my coping mechanisms

4 min readJan 20, 2022

Dealing with anxiety and stress can be difficult. Recently, I entered adulthood and found a whole new world of stress and anxiety. While I am only twenty, I still find many things to worry about, or they find me.

Bills. Work. Family. Finances. All these things are constantly cycling through our heads every day. It can be overwhelming, and I want you to know you are not alone in dealing with these worries.

If you are reading this, I want to remind you that it will be okay. Everything will work out in the end and whether you believe in God or not, know he has a plan for you.

How I Deal With My Stress And Anxiety

The best way to deal with stress and anxiety is to confront them. Take a moment to think about what has you pulling your hair and why. Let them know that they don’t have control over your life. You can choose not to worry about these things.

Much of our life is out of our control, but worrying about it doesn’t fix it. I promise it will work out, and the sooner you realize it will. The sooner you will be washed with relief. It is good to let our worries go and stop caring about them. Don’t waste life worrying.

Now I know not stressing and feeling anxious isn’t as simple as flipping a switch on and off. I had to pick up a couple of techniques and routines to help me not stress and feel anxious.

Yoga

Yoga is a mind-body practice that combines physical poses, controlled breathing, and meditation or relaxation. Yoga may help reduce stress, lower blood pressure and lower your heart rate.

I know yoga is cliche, and you probably expected this, but believe me when I say it works. Yoga was one of the first methods I picked up to relax my body and mind.

I remember the first time I tried yoga. I was in my living room sweating and panting, trying to fit my body into all the poses. It was intense, but after I felt relaxed.

I also realized that breathing out and in with the poses helped, so I wasn’t straining my body.

Yoga will help to take your mind off all your worries. The exercises will push your body but not so much that it is too complicated, and it will get easier as you continue to do it.

You can find yoga exercises on YouTube or download yoga apps. I was using Down Dog from the app store.

Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body. This is because when you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body. Those things that happen when you are stressed, such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you breathe deeply to relax.

Breathing has to be one of the best ways to calm yourself when feeling overwhelmed. Taking a couple of deep breathes in and out will soothe you.

I used to scoff at people who told others to “Calm down! Take some deep breaths!” until I tried it myself.

Moments when it feels like everything is closing on me, I will take a moment to breathe. Inhale through the nose for 4 seconds and exhale out the mouth for 6 seconds.

I learned this technique from an app called breathwork. This app has tons of breathing exercises for different problems like stress, anxiety, and sleep. When taking a hot shower, I recommend taking some nice long, deep breaths. Let the hot water wash off all your worries.

Relax Your Mind

There are so many ways to deal with stress and anxiety, but I hope the ones I listed help you as they have helped me.

Do whatever helps you deal with stress and anxiety but make sure it is not harmful to your body or mind.

Writing and music helps me to relax. Expressing myself on paper can be therapeutic. Usually, when I write, I put on some soft folk music that eases my mind.

At night, I listen to ASMR. I understand this isn’t for everyone but try to see if you like it. Hearing the crinkle of a wrapper or the whispers of a person is super relaxing for me.

Find what works for you and start taking control of your body and mind.