My top ten tips for coping with anxiety
Anxiety is all too familiar for college students. We all know the pressure of trying to keep our GPA’s up while also participating in clubs, working, and of course maintaining a social life. It’s no wonder that, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental health issues affecting college students.
Personally, I’ve suffered with anxiety ever since I can remember. However, I’ve made a ton of progress in the past year. Since I’ve been away at college, I’ve had to learn coping strategies to get through anxious situations by myself. Whether you have an anxiety disorder like me, or you just suffer from the anxiety all college students are under, I compiled a list of coping strategies that might help you out!
10. Coloring
It might sound silly, but coloring is one of my favorite ways to relax when I’m under pressure at school. If you have been trying to work on homework but you feel too anxious to focus, print out a couple of coloring pages from the internet and color whenever you need a mental break. I kept a Disney princess coloring book in my desk drawer at college just for this purpose. Something about the mindless action combined with the childhood nostalgia makes coloring the perfect relaxing activity.
9. Listening to The Beatles…
…or your favorite band. The Beatles is my favorite band to listen to when I need something soothing because I’ve been listening to them since I was literally a fetus. Not only that, but they have such a warm, welcoming quality to their music. “Help!” and “Let it Be” in particular just sum up the struggle of anxiety.
8. Describing your surroundings
When I’m in a crowded, noisy room or in a situation where I feel extremely self-conscious, I tend to space out or lose touch from my surroundings (known as “dissociating”). The way I get past this is by actively describing my surroundings in my head. Forming full phrases like “the wall is grey”, “his shirt is blue”, “there are twelve chairs at that table” can bring me back into the moment. This strategy is often recommended to people with anxiety disorders, but it could also be helpful to someone who is feeling overwhelmed at a particular moment.
7. Change the negative self-talk to positive
In anxious situations, it’s easy to get into a very negative frame of mind that only makes it worse. Thoughts like “I can’t believe I’m so weak” can take over. My strategy in this situation is to consciously tell myself, “No, I’m not weak. I’m just overwhelmed right now, but I can get through this.”
6. Don’t be mean to yourself
Building off the last strategy, another coping strategy taught to people with anxiety disorders is to take the negative thoughts and imagine someone else is saying them. I personally find it helpful to imagine it’s a childhood bully or someone who I already know is nasty and rude. That way, my instinct is to shut down the negative thoughts rather than to let them in.
5. Talk it out
Find a supportive friend or family member to vent to. My roommate and I used to always vent to each other last year about whatever was stressing us out. Finding someone to talk to can help you sort out your thoughts, find solutions, and be reassured that there are other people going through a lot of stress and anxiety in their lives as well.
4. Make “To-Do” lists
A big source of anxiety for me is feeling overwhelmed at the amount of stuff I have to do. This can even make me procrastinate, because I’m too anxious to start…which only makes it worse! Making a “To-Do” list can really help with this, because you can organize your thoughts and realize that everything is completely doable. There’s also a wonderful feeling of accomplishment every time you check something off the list!
3. Take a break.
If you are overwhelmed with the amount of stuff going on in your life, don’t be afraid to take a break once in awhile. If you’ve been studying for three hours straight, take a break to catch up on your favorite show on Netflix. If you’re feeling like your social life is starting to stress you out, it’s totally fine to have a “me-day” and spend a day by yourself to decompress. Take a break. You deserve it.
2. Do something you love.
I love to sing, so I sing to help relax when I’m stressed out. If you love to dance, or cook, or paint, or swim, all of these can be outlets to relieve stress. If you don’t have a hobby, find one! Learning to do something new can be fun, rewarding, and helpful to take the pressure off.
- EXERCISE!!!
This is my #1 tip of all time for coping with anxiety. If you really don’t like working out (not judging, that used to be me as well), I beg you, please keep trying until you find something you like! I cannot stress this enough. I never realized how much exercising could help relieve stress until I started working out regularly last semester. I started using it as a strategy; if I had a test later on in the day, I would make sure to hit the gym earlier that day so I would be calm and ready to focus. In fact, there are studies that show that exercise can be just as effective as medication for treating anxiety.
And there you have it! I hope my tips gave you some ideas on how to cope with anxiety, whether due to a disorder or just day-to-day stress.
