It can be difficult to release anxiety and reduce anxiety symptoms because anxiety is a total-body experience. It has a way of working its way deep into our body and slinking around our mind. Anxiety can be a painful experience, with a host of physical symptoms, negative thoughts, and unsettling emotions. It can make us feel both tired and wired, drained and agitated at the same time, as though we might jump right out of our own skin but collapse with exhaustion while we're doing it. I've discovered that a key part of managing anxiety and replacing it with a pervasive sense of calm contentment is to exercise in a variety of ways. Keep reading to learn about moving your body to release anxiety and reduce anxiety symptoms.

I have a lot of books in my collection – several hundred at last count. Book collecting is one of my favorite pastimes – in my free time, I love to browse around the many used bookstores near me.

I've learned anxiety lessons this year, and you probably have too because, for so many people worldwide, 2020 has been a year marked by anxiety. Some people found their existing anxiety skyrocketed, while others experienced it significantly for the first time. External stressors have been extreme this year as we've collectively wrestled with fears and worries about our health, the health of loved ones, safety, economic security, access to things and services we need, political and social uncertainties, and more. While this year definitely involved struggle, it also brought opportunities to build strength and growth. Here, I share with you seven anxiety lessons I learned from 2020.

The holidays had me thinking about food and anxiety more than usual. My family, like (I’m sure) most others, tends to make the same foods year after year, and honestly, it’s one of the things about the holidays I look the most forward to, and I’m guessing many of you feel the same way. I’m going to use that as a jumping-off point for this blog post because I think there’s something to be said about how food can help someone with their anxiety.

Anxiety and stress are similar in nature. They both are typically unwelcome invaders intruding on our lives, rudely disrupting our inner peace and calm. Because they are related, people often use the terms interchangeably. Technically, there is a slight difference between stress and anxiety. For each of us in our daily lives, though, does the difference really matter? Read on, and decide for yourself.

It can be extremely effective to deal with anxiety from the inside out even though anxiety is often caused--or exacerbated--by forces outside of us. That's because even if the cause of our anxiety is external, our reaction is internal and involves our entire mind (thoughts and feelings), brain (the physical organ and its structures and activities), and body (every part of our body is impacted by and can affect our anxiety). To help you reduce anxiety from deep within so you can calmly respond to stressors without, I offer you a mindfulness activity as well as information about why it works and when to do it.

If you ever see me in real life, I will almost always have a pair of headphones because they reduce my anxiety. If they’re not in my ears, they’ll be hanging around my neck just in case I need to put them in. I started this in high school after I got my first iPod, and I’ve continued it to the present day unceasingly. For me, it’s the best way I can control my anxiety. I want to talk about why that is the case.

If you'd like to beat anxiety, I offer you a hearty welcome to the club. As a long-term member and someone who has been able to overcome the grip that anxiety used to have on me, I have food for thought: Shift your focus away from beating anxiety. Notice that I didn't say I've overcome anxiety but, instead, the grip it had on me. Anxiety is part of the human experience, and it does have a place in our lives. It does not, however, deserve to be the center of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. To break free from the grip anxiety has on you, think less about anxiety, and focus on what you need instead.

Everyone with anxiety certainly has some things they have or do to keep their anxiety under control. Inevitably, some of them will strike outsiders as odd or different, but if they help, I say more power to them.

When anxiety strikes and skyrockets, chances are you'd enjoy an anxiety hack for instant relief from your symptoms. While, unfortunately, there is no quick fix for anxiety that will make it magically disappear from your life forever, there are things you can do to immediately help soothe your mind, brain, and body. When you catch yourself caught in high anxiety, try one or more of these 12 anxiety hacks to reset and center yourself so you can deal with the stressors you're facing.