Do you worry so much that it’s starting to interfere with your life? You must find some effective ways to help ease your mind to prevent this situation from worsening.
Excessive worry turns into anxiety, and according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, over 6.8 billion adults suffer from this condition. It’s the most common form of mental illness found, but it’s easily treated.
Anxiety is uncontrolled fears or worries that inhibit your life. It can make you think that you’re dying, have some terrible disease, or are unable to move, speak, or live life normally. You should know that constant worry is not healthy for you mentally or physically. According to Harvard Medical School, it can affect your heart, blood pressure, and even blood sugar levels.
How many times has a doctor, counselor, or friend told you that you need to calm down? It’s not that easy to ease your mind when it’s overwhelmed continually. However, if you allow your anxiety to go out of control, it can cause panic attacks, social anxiety, and agoraphobia.
22 Ways to Ease Your Mind and Make Your Worries Less Burdensome
Your overall health and mental well-being depend on finding effective ways to ease your mind and control your worry. Here are some tips that can help.
1. Stay Busy
How many times have you heard the old saying that “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop?” Well, when you sit and stare at four walls for long enough, it’s going to impact your mental health. Staying busy is a healthy way to keep yourself from excessive worry.
2. Use Meditation
Meditation is the key to releasing all the stress and negativity you collect during the day. It’s an ideal way to calm yourself and refocus after a chaotic day.
3. Exercise
Get your body moving, and you will see the benefits. An overproduction of hormones like cortisol triggers the fight or flight response in your body. Thankfully, you can boost your brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine by getting in a good workout, and your cortisol levels lower, according to the National Library of Medicine.
4. Eat A Healthy Diet
If you want optimal brain health, then you need to monitor what you eat. Trying a plant-based diet or the keto plan allows you to eliminate harmful grease and carbs from your life. You will feel better and be in a better headspace when you fuel your body with omega 3s and disease-fighting vitamins and minerals.
5. Choose Your Friends Wisely
If you’re constantly worrying, it might have a lot to do with the people you hang around. You’re known by the company you keep, so if Debbie downer is your best friend, then you might want to choose someone who tends to have a better personality. Hanging with someone negative can impact your thought processes and make you a more pessimistic person.
6. Don’t Run from Your Problems
Rather than running from your problems, you can ease your mind by facing them head-on. Be proactive and come up with a solution rather than trying to sweep them under the rug. When you try to sidestep issues, it’s the breeding ground for excessive worrying.
7. Make A Plan of Action
Assume you don’t have enough money to pay your rent this month. Rather than worrying about it, formulate a plan of action. Write a list of things you can do to make up the difference. When you arm yourself with a strategy, you will feel better as you’re doing something about it.
8. Think Positive, Not Negative
It’s so hard to be positive in a hostile world. However, it would help if you did whatever you can to guard what you let your mind and body ingest. Things like the news can depress you and bring down your mood.
To ease your mind and thwart anxiety, guard what you watch or read to so you can stay upbeat.
9. Try Therapy
Therapy is an excellent way to get all the negativity you harbor on the inside out. A counselor is a third party trained in anxiety matters, and they can teach you practical coping skills, like EFT tapping, to help you.
10. Create A Vision Board
Many people have a great deal of anxiety about the future. A vision board is a road map that can ease your mind. This visual tool helps you see beyond your current situation. If you feel stuck in a rut, this technique can help you map out a plan to get to a better place.
11. Journal
When you can’t get all the worry and anxiety from the inside out, you should try journaling. Get an old-fashioned diary and write down all your concerns and fears, then you must let them go. Think of it as a way to tell the Universe you’ve had enough and to take this burden from you.
12. Use Positive Affirmations
When you start speaking to yourself in positive affirmations, it will change your mindset. Tell yourself every day about how much you’re loved, how great you’re doing in life, and how blessed you’re to have another day on planet earth.
13. Take Time for Self-Care
When’s the last time you took a bubble bath with candles? How long has it been since you’ve been to the barber or the salon? Pamper yourself a bit, as you deserve it. Plus, it’s easier to let the anxiety go when you’re getting a nice massage.
14. Know It’s Okay Not to Be Okay
You’re never going to be a hundred percent all the time. Tell yourself that it’s okay not to be okay and learn that this is all part of life. The key is that it’s never acceptable to stay this way.
15. Get Sufficient Rest
Are you sleeping well at night? If you’re staying up all night worrying, then it can affect your health. You need to make time for quality rest, and if there is an underlying sleep disorder you need help with, you need to get that under control.
16. Learn Relaxation Techniques
Did you know that a baby learns to self-soothe from the day they enter the world? You, too, must develop techniques to calm yourself. Some people like to go outside and take a walk, while others prefer to have a glass of wine and sit by a fire. Find something to help ease your anxiety that’s positive.
17. Avoid Triggers
If you know that something is a significant trigger for your worry or anxiety, you should avoid it. Even people can be triggers. Once you learn what makes your fear worse, you can rearrange your life to cut these things out.
18. Listen To Music
Music is an excellent way to calm yourself. It’s a power influencer that’s being used to help agitated Alzheimer’s patients across the world. According to the National Library of Medicine, music therapy is a widely used technique medically proven beneficial.
19. Allow A Specific Block of Time for Worrying
Okay, so there’s no way that you can go through life without any worry. However, you can control the amount of time you let it take precedence. So, allow yourself a half-hour each day to ruminate about all the cares of life. When this period is over, so is the time for angst.
20. Limit Caffeine Intake
Caffeine can speed up your heart and increase anxiety. Avoid caffeinated beverages or at least limit them to help.
21. Retrain Your Brain
Did you know you can retrain your brain? If you’ve developed a thought pattern of worry and anxiety, then you’ve trained yourself to be pessimistic. Thankfully, you have the power to retrain yourself to be positive by following a few simple tips and tricks to keep on the sunny side. No wonder Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart is good medicine.”
22. Look At the Big Picture
Do you get overwhelmed by the big picture? Stop looking at things in the broad spectrum and learn to take one day at a time. Assume you’re in the market for a new vehicle. The price of the automobile you want is $38,000.
At first glance, you have a sticker shock because the price is more than you’re willing to pay. However, with a growing family, you need an SUV that can accommodate your brood. The good news is that when you break it down into smaller monthly payments, the big picture isn’t as concerning.
Stop looking at your problems on a grand scale and think about how you can make today better.
Final Thoughts on Ways to Ease Your Mind
Worry and anxiety are just as much a part of life as laughter and happiness. There are going to be days when you want the whole world to go away, and there will be times when you can’t see the sunshine from all the rain. The good news is that this too shall pass.
You can look back over your life and see the many mountains and valleys. In six months, the things you fret about will likely be forgotten. Start being mindful and learn to live in the moment.
Life is a beautiful thing, and if you’re not taking time to smell the beautiful wildflowers or to breathe in the tranquil fragrance after the rain, then you’re missing out on a lot. Isn’t it time you ease your mind and start living again?
