5 Tips For Managing Anxiety in Relationships from an Anxiety Therapist in Arizona
Anxiety can come up within our relationships when we feel disconnected, or even when life becomes unmanageable at times for us personally.
Here are 5 tips for Managing Anxiety
Anxiety can be managed both personally and within your relationships to help you feel a little more at ease. Below are a few tips I have learned as an anxiety therapist at Aspen Grove Counseling.
Best Case Scenario, Worst Case Scenario, and Most Likely Scenario
Something that I help my clients with when they are feeling anxious, is really looking at the situation closely. Sometimes our anxiety can create stories of how negative things can go, even if we don’t have evidence that it will really be that bad.
Practice challenging your anxiety by asking yourself these three questions:
What is the best-case scenario if everything goes well?
Then ask yourself, what is the worst-case scenario if everything goes wrong?
Finally, ask yourself which is the most likely scenario. Which would be something in between the worst-case, and the best-case options.
Sometimes this can help balance the anxiety in looking at the reality of the situation!
Meditation for Anxiety
Meditation is a great tool for working on managing racing thoughts and anxiety. Meditation is not just about sitting quietly as most people think. Meditation is a practice of taking deep breaths, focusing on your breath rising and falling through your stomach, and keeping that focus. When your mind starts to wander into the anxiety, acknowledge that thought without judging or beating yourself up for having it, and then gently bring yourself back to your breath.
There are many apps that have guided meditation to walk you through how to do this. Insight timer is one that is free and easy to use and offers short 10-minute guided meditations to work on practicing catching racing thoughts and bringing you back into the moment.
Anxiety and Exercise
Exercise is a great way to manage anxiety, as it provides a release of emotions and gets that energy out! Getting your body moving can help distract you, and if you work out hard enough, you may not even be thinking about your anxiety as you are focusing on your workout whether that be weight training, cardio, or just going on a walk within your break from work to have a change of scenery. You don’t have to be a gym rat and go hardcore for exercise to be beneficial in managing anxiety. Yoga is also a great option, as it also includes mindfulness and focusing on the breath!
Grounding Exercises for Anxiety
Grounding exercises are when you use your 5 senses to bring yourself back to the moment. Many times when we are anxious, our mind wants to think about the future and create scenarios of negative things that can happen, and we are no longer in the moment where we are safe. Try this exercise next time when you are anxious.
Ask yourself these questions when you are feeling anxious:
What are the things I see around me (get detailed with colors, shapes, naming objects, etc.)?
What are the things I hear?
What are the things I can smell (you can even grab something soothing to smell if you don’t smell anything like a candle or some perfume/cologne)?
What are things I can feel (the chair you are sitting on, your skin, the air blowing on you, the clothes on your body)?
What are some things you can taste (you can even grab a drink like coffee or tea, or eat a piece of candy and focus on the taste)?
Reach out to Friends, Family, and Especially Your Partner
It’s important that you lean on others to support you when you are feeling anxious, as we all know, our mind can take us places that are scary and hard to challenge. Having an outside perspective, someone you trust, to challenge this anxiety for you and bring you back to the moment is important. Think about what you might need from your partner or other significant relationships when you are anxious. This might be a hug, comforting words of encouragement, validation, or just someone to hear your fear. ASK for these things from those around you so they know how to support you in your anxious state. Contact me if I can help you with your anxiety through therapy.
