Anxiety can make you feel trapped like you only have one option, and it makes you feel anxious all the time. Once you feel this way, it can become exceedingly difficult to know if you could ever feel normal again. Follow these three steps to help take back control of your own life. 

 Acknowledge what is happening 

When you acknowledge your anxious feelings and worries and all the “what-ifs” that pass through your mind. A major part of people’s anxiety is focusing on what may happen. For example, you are in a classroom or in a meeting, and you want to give your idea or opinion, but you don’t say anything because you fear what people might say or what they might do, they might not even say anything at all. That is what you must acknowledge about your anxiety, you don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but you constantly think about it because you don’t know what else to do and you start a freak out in your head, and that can cause you to have an anxiety attack. Many people use journaling to see what they do when they’re having an anxiety attack, journaling your thoughts down in a notebook is proven to calm you down.  

Author of the book “Calm The F Down,” Sarah Knight said, “Journaling is scientifically proven to help calm you down by moving all those burning, churning thoughts out of your head.” 

Accept what is going on 

Accepting the challenge of anxiety can be difficult and may take time. Taking action to help get your anxiety under control will help you extremely, seeing a therapist or even talking to your doctor. There are usually four faces of freaking out and having anxiety attacks, like being anxious, sad, angry, and being avoidance. Finding out which one you are can make helping control your anxiety much easier. We also use our anxiety as a protective mechanism to help us keep ourselves safe from emotional danger. It is a way for your body to let you know that you are in danger and to find a way to act like others around you to blend in and feel normal.  

“I was about seven years old when my anxiety began. I would freak out and have meltdowns because I was scared or mad because I overthink and that made my anxiety worse,” third-grader Aubrey Brueck said.  

How to deal with anxiety  

Once you have accepted that you have anxiety, helping find ways to cope with it can be incredibly helpful. As one person you cannot control everything so only focus on what you can control. Talking to a therapist or a school counselor can help you cope and let out what you want to let out. Setting different goals and achievements for yourself can help you calm down and focus on what you can control and to not worry about what everyone else thinks.  

“I use deep breathing and grounding exercises to help myself to deal with anxiety,” as a parent with anxiety Emily Brueck said.  

Living with anxiety will never be a walk in the park but acknowledging it and learning to deal with the issues you may face will make it much better. Following the three steps above may help you learn how to manage your anxiety.