8 Natural Ways to Cope with Fears and Anxiety.

2020 is the year of facing our greatest fears. Fears of the unknown and of losing control, along with economic and health-related concerns, form a kind of “pressure pot” that evokes worry and anxiety on the most fundamental of our existential levels.

In this article, I want to share with you eight simple ways of applying self-care to help anyone that is experiencing fear or anxiety.

These tips can benefit You, your friends, family, and employees.

1.Regaining control through simple acts and small victories.

As human beings, our need for control is an elementary part of our existence and happiness. Controlling our environment and achieving personal autonomy is an essential human need, and it is our brains’ default mode.

Researcher Angus Campbell expresses the perks of autonomy as “having a strong sense of controlling one’s life is a more dependable predictor of positive feelings of well-being than any of the objective conditions of life we have considered.”

Naturally, not everything is under our control. When it comes to fears and anxiety, it is crucial to clearly distinguish between what is under our control and what isn’t. The more focused we become on what lies outside our control, the stronger our anxiety grows.

Therefore, the first step in coping with fears and anxiety is placing the sense of control back in the hands of the anxious person.

This can be accomplished by performing simple actions and achieving small victories.

The three crucial questions we should be asking ourselves are:

1. Where do I still have room for personal choice?
2. What simple actions can I perform today to utilize my freedom of choice
3. What small victories can I achieve right now in areas that are still under my control?

For example, I don’t have access to the gym at the moment, but I can still participate in a live online class to get my daily dose of exercise. I can’t access my office, but I can allocate a work space at home and continue to be productive from there. I can’t go out to meet my friends, but we still video chat and are able to support, encourage, and have fun with each other. I can’t eat out, but I can choose what food I want to cook and how.

With each small victory over the basic things that are under our control our anxiety lessens. The more victories we declare, the smaller our anxiety gets.

Maybe this is also an opportunity to do more of the things we love to do, things that fill us with joy and make us feel alive.

Since it is difficult for our brains to experience pleasure and pain at the same time, the more enjoyable the activities we pursue, the further we distance ourselves from the circle of suffering.

2. Mindfulness and being present

Mindfulness is the skill of being completely present in the moment. When people are afraid, worried, or anxious, they tend to be obsessive about something that may happen in the future, and as a result they are less present in the present.

However, when one manages to be fully present in the present, their anxiety decreases while their level of joy increases.

The happiness researcher, Matt Killingsworth, presents in his Ted talk a study that shows that people are less happy when they are mind-wandering, no matter what they’re doing. When our minds wander, we tend to shift to unpleasant thoughts and grow enormously less happy. Even when we think about something neutral, we’re still considerably less comfortable than when we’re not mind-wandering at all.

Every activity that helps us become present in the present, say playing a game, increases our joy and diminishes our anxiety and fear. It could be a game of monopoly, chess, ping pong, you name it. Games demand our full attention, which causes us to lose sense of time-this releases endorphins in our brains, improves our concentration, and reduces our anxiety.

Other activities that bring us to the present moment could be a dance that requires us to pay attention to our movements or learning a new exciting skill. It can even be something that breaks us away from our routine or a thing that surprises us.

So maybe now is a good time to write the book you always wanted to write, or play with your children or start a project that would make you lose track of time. Any activity that will make you focus on the present and experience the world fully through your senses.

3. Physical exercise and movement.

Scientific research found out that any type of regular exercise that increases heart rate is almost as effective for treating anxiety as medicine, as long as you stick with it. Physical activity secretes endorphins, the body’s natural calming substances, into the bloodstream. It also reduces elevated muscle tension, one of the symptoms of anxiety, and interrupts negative feedback loops from body to brain, decreasing stress.

Yoga and aerobics are just two of many examples of physical exercise that can have very positive results. Physical exercise builds the mind’s resources and increases the levels of serotonin. Serotonin is involved in almost all aspects of anxiety circles. It regulates signals in the brain stem, improves the performance of the frontal cortex in blocking fear, calms the amygdala, and releases beneficial proteins.

You can read more about this in the book “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain”.

Walking is also a useful tool for coping with all the different kinds of anxieties; it helps to burn the adrenaline hormone, which is secreted in our body during times of stress and anxiety.

Walking returns our body to a state of routine and diverts our minds’ attention to a simple action that doesn’t require thought and makes us feel more in control. Any physical activity releases endorphins into our bloodstream, which are the natural calming substances of the body.

Now is your opportunity to start a physical activity of any kind and pursue it regularly. You can go for a walk, go for a run, climb up and down the stairs, dance, ride a bicycle, or just keep your body moving!

There are many free and high-quality online exercise programs you can follow to help you stay motivated and stick with your new routine.

4. Humor, smiles, and laughter.

Laughing and smiling alters the chemistry of our brain. We know that an authentic and full smile decreases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and increases dopamine, which improves our mood.

A smile works to some degree even when it is unauthentic.

Research shows that when depressed people were told to hold pencils above their mouths in a way that would force a smile, it improved how they felt. This idea is called “The Facial Feedback Theory of Emotion.”

Also, a group of psychologists from California University San Francisco discovered that when people pretend to laugh, cry, or show other emotions, the physical reactions of their bodies change accordingly.

That’s why it’s so important to laugh as much as possible, even if you have to pretend at first. Now is the time to sharpen your sense of humor, watch a comedy, and look for positive spins that will help you laugh.

5. Meditation.

Even brief meditation reduces anxieties.

Research from Michigan Technological University found out that after only one session of mindfulness meditation, meditators experience a decrease in their level of anxiety, where impact can last up to a week.

Ariana Harington, Bill Ford, and Russell Simonsall all confessed that meditation is an integral part of their lives. When we meditate, we not only reduce our stress levels, but we connect with our intuition, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. Also, we boost our health, our happiness, our social life, and our self-control.

Meditation makes us less concerned with things beyond our control and less influenced and distracted by external pressures. It helps us reflect on reality from the inside out, reducing anxiety and stress.

6. Transforming our inner voice.

During times of stress, we tend to hold a negative dialogue with ourselves However, we know that the way we think consequently impacts our body and emotions.

One of the essential methods of coping with anxiety is to replace negative and self-destructive thinking with an empowering and soothing inner voice. A possible way to achieve this is by reflecting upon doomsday scenarios and how realistic they really are.

It is worthwhile to find out what you say to yourself in moments of anxiety or fear. What fearful sentence do you keep telling yourself? Does it make any sense? What is the chance it will happen? Is it the only possible scenario?

Listening to our inner voice allows us to make a new choice and to replace negative messages with positive ones. Instead of dwelling on worst-case scenarios, we can choose to instill empowering messages of hope and strength in our subconsciousness, especially knowing that hope is a critical factor in recovering from anxiety disorders.

Research also shows that it is not only what you say to yourself, but also the way you address yourself. For example, talking to yourself in third-person, and calming yourself down can be extremely useful in anxious situations.

7. Compassion, and giving to others

When we forget about ourselves and put all of our focus on giving more attention to others, our anxiety diminishes.

Research shows that compassion for others, as well as to ourselves, reduces anxiety and stress.

Over-focusing on ourselves can lead to overthinking, worry, and stress.

When experiencing a scary situation, it is suggested to forget ourselves, listen to others, show interest, be emphatic, and see what we can do to help others.

When it comes to kids, it can also be helpful to encourage them to develop compassionate habits. This can be done through getting them to help around the house through cooking, organizing, or even taking care of grandpa and grandma.

8. Deep sleep.

Deep sleep diminishes anxieties and balances emotions.

Berkeley University researchers found that a sleepless night can increase anxiety by as much as 30%. Therefore getting a good night’s sleep is incredibly essential and a great way to decrease fear and anxiety.

Conclusion

Gaining back our control during situations of anxiety and stress can be achieved through simple actions, self healing and small daily victories. Take the time to be fully present in the moment, whether it be through mindfulness, physical activity, self reflection or positive engagement. And remember that by showing compassion to others, enjoying humor and laughter, and getting good sleep, you can conquer your fear and anxiety independently