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Coping strategies for anxious times

In anxious times like these, it’s important to have some coping strategies that will make you feel more grounded and help you respond to stressful situations.

Here are some ideas to try.

1. Acknowledge your feelings

After the seismic shift the world has been through recently, it’s very normal to feel overwhelmed, anxious, frustrated, scared, and many other emotions. Acknowledge your feelings. Give yourself space to process these strong feelings in your own time. Try not to act on them until you’ve had a chance to do that. You may find that you don’t need to act on them at all. Just sitting with them, and practising self-compassion, may be enough to help.

2. Work through your worries

When worries are left unresolved, they can cause anxiety. Try to turn your worries into a plan of action by focusing on what you can control and making a plan. This is a powerful way to get anxious thoughts out of your mind so you can focus on other things.

3. Step back into your body

Take a moment to return your focus to your body.

  • Push your feet into the floor.

  • Sit up straight and pull your shoulders back.

  • Rotate your shoulders.

  • Link your fingers and stretch your arms.

Grounding yourself in your body will help to calm your stress response.

4. Remind yourself of happy times

Reflect on a happy memory. Visualise this memory in as much detail as possible. Try to recall smells, sounds, and other sensations.

Visualisation can help switch off your body’s stress response. Your brain will interpret the memory as happening right now and release feel-good hormones.

Thinking about happy memories resets your brain, reminds you that things do pass, and helps you to focus on more positive things.