Anxiety: Do's and Don'ts
A list of what to do and what not to do to control anxiety.
Do's
- Notice how it is affecting you and pay attention to how you would rather be feeling.
- Remember to breathe.
- Focus on something interesting and engaging: a hobby, a project, a conversation with a friend, an activity.
- Play with a pet. Arrange flowers. Play a sport. Watch a movie.
- Stay active in your life. Continue going to work and/or school. Take care of children. Keep your house clean. Take care of your personal hygiene.
- Surround yourself with people who care about you. Spend time with your spouse, children, parents, colleagues, friends, neighbors.
- Engage in conversation that is interesting and meaningful.
- At other times, engage in trivial talk!
- Try to limit discussion about the anxiety to less than 5% of your conversation.
- Pay attention to whether what you are doing or thinking is what you want to be doing or thinking and whether or not it fits for you.
Don'ts
- Don't isolate yourself. Anxiety will try to get you to think you should be alone. Don't listen to it.
- Don't spend time thinking about how you feel. Anxiety will take over.
- Don't talk about anxiety more than 5% of the time and then only about your successes over it.
- Don't let anxiety get you to second-guess yourself.
- Don't let anxiety get you to imagine what others are thinking.
- Don't fall prey to anxiety's ploy to engage in repetitive behaviors.
- Don't let it put images of disaster in your head
next: Anxiety: The Other Disorder
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~ all anxiety disorders articles
APA Reference
Gluck, S.
(2007, February 18). Anxiety: Do's and Don'ts, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 14 from https://www.healthyplace.com/anxiety-panic/articles/anxiety-dos-and-donts
Last Updated: July 3, 2016