5 Ways to Manage Stress or Anxiety
Even though the physical and emotional symptoms may be similar, there are some differences between stress and anxiety that cause difficulty in recognizing them or confusing them. Think about stress as coming from something external such as work, medical issues, discrimination, or conflict, whereas anxiety is often connected to internal thoughts, beliefs, or worries. I don’t mean to make this so simplistic as there are some exceptions (panic attacks) but all in all the causes are the difference. Now, you can have a work situation such as harassment or bullying that initially causes stress and then if not resolved over time may induce anxiety symptoms related to worry about seeing this person or thoughts about “what is wrong with me?”
Regardless of the situation or thoughts that accompany the emotion, there are similar ways to manage both and minimize the impact on your daily functioning. I encourage you to give these a try to see how they are helpful or not. For the ones that are helpful, add them to your coping toolbox so that you can access them anytime you are experiencing stress or anxiety.
1. Insert space between the stimulus and the reaction. Viktor Frankl says it best in his book A Man’s Search for Meaning, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” I know this may seem impossible just thinking about a situation that evokes one of these feelings but give it a try. This means that before responding you take 10 seconds, 30 seconds, or a minute to breathe, talk to yourself in a supportive way, wash your face, take a drink of water, step outside for fresh air, or pop a piece of gum or mint in your mouth. Just take a moment to not respond automatically.
2. Insert movement. What you may often notice when you experience stress or anxiety is that you sit or stand, and the situation or interaction replays in your brain. You may latch on to specific words, tones, or thoughts about yourself that cause you to almost freeze. Sitting and repeating this is not helpful and will not lead to any conclusion or resolution especially when your emotions are ramped up. So, instead go for a walk, go to the gym, jump rope, do jumping jacks or push ups, or shake out your body. Stress and anxiety create a response in the body called fight/flight and when there is nowhere to disperse this increased adrenaline rush and energy it becomes an almost chaotic feeling. So, let it out.
3. Nurture yourself. How often do you talk to yourself in a negative and critical way when you feel stressed or anxious? How much is this helpful for you? I am guessing it intensifies the feeling more than relieves it. How you talk to yourself more than likely comes from a place of habit then a place of intentional care and concern. Instead of saying things like, “I never do anything right”, or “I can’t control my emotions”, or “This situation will never get better”, start to give yourself grace and kindness. What I mean by this is that I imagine you have overcome stressful and anxiety provoking situations or interactions before because you are here reading this and life throws us tons of curveballs. What are you waiting on? Start nurturing and loving yourself by speaking kindly right now.
4. Develop a routine. Routine can be powerful by helping us with consistency and reliability with a little sprinkling of flexibility. When you have a bedtime routine, you can improve your sleep. Maybe you scrolled your phone 5 minutes before bedtime or went to bed overwhelmed with tons of thoughts circling in your head. You decide to put a notebook next to your bed to write down worries or things to do the next day to alleviate your brain power for sleep or you stop scrolling and looking at your phone one hour before bedtime. Maybe you usually rush to work in a frenzy because you forgot to set your alarm or snooze too many times, so instead you set your alarm on your phone and put it away from your bedside and allow yourself to sit in your car in the work parking lot for 1 - 5 minutes to catch your breath and decide your next steps as you transition into work.
5. Learn relaxation techniques. I do not mean you have to attend a one-hour yoga or meditation session, although this may be very beneficial. I mean, taking some time in your morning, during your lunch break, in the evening, or whenever you can set some time aside and focus on relaxation. This may involve breathing exercises, Chi Kung, Tai Chi, yoga, meditation, reading, listening to calming music, or just sitting and closing your eyes. I encourage you to set a schedule for this - 1-3 times per week, at a specific time, and for a specific duration. For instance, I am going to do 5 minutes of slow inhales and exhales on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays prior to walking into work or prior to getting in my car or prior to going to sleep.
All of these strategies do not take an enormous amount of time, nor do they require any special equipment. You can do one or all of them and see how you feel and what you think. It is important for anything you try to not contribute to increasing stress or anxiety but to minimize it. It may not go completely away, as life continues to happen around us, but it is possible to manage it differently. You can do this!