Dealing with Anxiety, part 1 of 11

Dr. John Delony regularly offers massive amounts of solid advice. Let’s spend some quality time with him and his thoughts on Anxiety, which is so prevalent among us—

Anxiety is real. It’s powerful. Anxiety affects millions and millions of adults, teens and children in the United States alone, and it’s the most commonly diagnosed mental health challenge of our time.¹ It hijacks our thoughts, our guts and our heart rates. It can be crippling. But it’s not a death sentence (even though it feels like it sometimes). And here’s the truth: To start healing, you don’t just deal with the anxiety . . . You have to address the things causing anxiety in the first place—the situations, thoughts, schedules and choices throwing your wellness and world totally out of whack.

Think of anxiety like a smoke alarm. It goes off when it detects a “fire” in your life. The alarms sound when you feel like you’re in danger or have an unpleasant emotion. And before you know it, your body floods with muscle tension or panic or a racing heart or you overanalyze every single detail of your day.

But the good news?

You can quiet the alarms and put out the fires.

Here’s how to get started dealing with anxiety.

11 Ways to Deal With Anxiety

Dealing with anxiety and healing the chronic fight, flight or freeze response is a multilayered process. While it might take some intentional counseling and lifestyle changes to help calm these stress responses, there are ways you can quiet anxiety in the moment.

1. Stop being alone.

Stop isolating. Just stop. Loneliness is killing us. It’s more destructive than obesity or smoking. Reach out to a friend or family member you can connect with . . . today. Have lunch with a coworker. Go for a walk with a neighbor. Meet some friends for nachos. True human connection and peace only happen when you’re safe and when you can be honest with other people. I don’t care if you’re an introvert or extrovert or what your Enneagram number or Myers-Briggs type is. You cannot get through life alone. Go hang out with someone. If you need help with anxiety, there are people like friends and trusted therapistsready to walk alongside you. We can’t pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Believe me: I’m an introvert from Texas, and I’ve tried.