Five Healthy Ways to Cope With Anxiety and Fear
Sometimes, the threshold of anxiety and fear might feel overwhelming. Fear, in and of itself, is a good thing. It keeps us alert and safe. It helps us focus on survival strategies. It helps keep blood moving and lungs breathing to enable a flight response.
And that’s very useful for a few minutes or even a few hours. But, right now, there’a an overwhelming amount of fear in us, around us, with no short-term solution in sight. And that can set us up for triggered responses, PTSD overload, and may put many of us at risk to rely on unhealthy coping mechanisms.
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Fear is a high intensity, very vibrate-y feeling. Activities that help cope with fear need to match the high intensity of the emotion and may need to include movement, intense creativity, hard work, extreme focus, or manual labor (something that makes you sweat). Since we are going through a particularly fearful time, I offer these tips as additional support to help yourself through this time of uncertainty.
Here are five things that I’ve found to help fear:
True Crime and Mystery—books, podcasts, TV shows, and movies.
It might sound odd that reading or watching scary things might help support you through a scary time, but trust me—this works. Something about having a specific and focused fear allows your insides to settle down. Rather than just being overwhelmed by your vague out-there-all-around fear, channeling it into a thrilling detective mystery seems to help the nervous system weirdly relax—as if it now has something to focus on.
High Intensity Exercise
Hike, run, dance, jump, shake, bounce—do something to the point of exhaustion. The fear response is: Run—so help your body do what it’s programmed to do—move. You can do this even when you’re stuck at home, turn on some music, jump up and down, flap your arms, do what you can to dispel the nervous energy.
Making Something from Scratch
Fear is about not having control. It’s helpless and powerless. It’s about not being able to predict something. So, make something, anything. Write a book, paint a picture, bake a cake, knit a scarf, build a bench, paint a dresser. Do something that gives you some sense of being able to influence an outcome.
Doing Something Difficult
Dig a ditch. Chop wood. Carry buckets of water. Rake the leaves. Weed the garden. Clean your home. Re-arrange your living room furniture. Do something that requires sweat and even blood or tears. This helps you strengthen your body giving yourself a signal that you’re ready and able to run.
Swaddling and Physical Compression
If you don’t have a weighted blanket, you can swaddle yourself (yes, as in what you do to babies—don’t knock it ’till you try it). Basically, you take a blanket and wrap it around you as tightly as possible. The compression helps to alleviate the physical symptoms of fear. If you like this feeling, you can get yourself a weighted blanket. I rely on my weighted blanket to ground me—it’s my favorite go-to for fear, anxiety, worry, uncertainty, and doubt. You can find these online listed as trauma blankets, gravity blankets, or weighted blankets. It instantly comforts me and helps me feel safe. The compression keeps me connected to my current surroundings and helps me feel protected in the moment.