Dealing with a troubled mind is no fun. It can be hard, when, at times, you aren’t able to focus and think normally, and to feel constantly anxious about certain things. What’s harder is when such difficulties get in the way of your happiness and peace.
The good news, however, is that there are a couple of little things that you could do, which can actually ease your struggles. They are super simple and easy things that require almost no effort but create a massive difference in the way you feel every day. That is if you take them seriously.
Smile
Your smile has got nothing to do with how great or awful life could be. Nevertheless, it does become harder to smile when you don’t feel alright inside, and when that feeling keeps coming back and won’t go away. However, as tough as it can get, it’s important to remind yourself all the time, to smile more often. You may want to stick a giant smiley somewhere in your bedroom, or any place that’s more noticeable. Walk up to the mirror first thing in the morning and take a good look at yourself. You may feel like a mess, or you may feel kinda pretty in a strange way in that morning look – smile at you anyway! Also, make it a point to smile at the first person you encounter as you start your day. This could still be hard, but do it anyway! Likewise, train yourself to smile more often, and more importantly, smile when you don’t feel like it! You could even play some goofy smile game with yourself to make this work better.
Be silly
Every one of us has a bunch of silly actions that we want to try doing behind closed doors. If you want to ease off stress and anxiety, or just stop them from bothering you too often, you can go crazy with them! It’s the best trick you’d want to use and are great fun too. Instead of letting horrible thoughts, fears or paranoia get at you and preoccupy your mind, choose to do something silly instead. Make faces, touch the tip of your nose with your tongue, imitate someone before the mirror, do some makeup tutorials and record them, or just try on a skimpy outfit!
Eat What You Like
One thing about managing or preventing anxiety and stress is that you shouldn’t binge on stuff. It is very important to eat right, however, it’s alright to have occasional cheat days, unplanned ones even, where you’d just eat what you like. Just make sure you don’t overindulge, but forget the nasty things in your head and eat to feel happy. Be it drippy chocolate cake or hot fries with dips and ketchup, don’t hesitate to enjoy some if it would give you true happiness.
Bubble Baths
A nice warm bath can relax your body and mind, and of course, ease off symptoms or feelings of anxiety. Consider throwing in some of those beautifully scented essential oils and aromas, or anything therapeutic, and get soaked for a while. Do this more often, it really could do some magic!
Stress Balls and Bubble Wraps
As you know, stress contributes quite majorly towards anxiety. In fact, they often stem from one of the other. Squeezing on stress balls with bare hands is something anyone can do, whether they have problems or not. Forget about the destress factor and think about how much fun it can be, and perhaps, how it benefits your finger muscles.
As for bubble wraps, who doesn’t love them? Popping a hundred bubbles certainly is therapy, there’s no one who wouldn’t deny it!
Go Swimming
Swimming is great for everyone, but if you have anxiety, it’s something you may want to do more often. It’s not a fun and chill pool time with a bunch of friends that we’re talking about but focussed swim sessions, on your own perhaps, which can really do amazing things to your mind and body.
Spend time with Animals
Animals are amazing creatures to be around, especially when you’re feeling low. Dogs in particular, are great. If you’ve never had a pet or you don’t get to see any, you may want to consider getting special ones, especially for therapy. You could always reach out to these services and request for a service dog for anxiety. These special breeds are licensed and have natural abilities to comfort and ease the mental struggles of humans.
Work on Your Interests
Even though you may feel completely demotivated at the moment, you would have had some interests that you gave up on. It’s important that you try and explore them once in a way, even if it means you have to drag yourself to do it. Try the new recipe you’d been eyeing, or practice the piano or guitar and try a couple of new tunes. The result doesn’t matter, just see that you keep in touch with these activities you once enjoyed.
Declutter
Messy surroundings can cause depression and mental disturbances. It’s scientifically proven! Make sure you do up your bed and clean up often, even daily. In fact, start your day with this sort of positivity. Play music while you clean, just for some motivation. When you live in messy surroundings, you’re likely to lose your belongings, and losing important stuff can cause extreme levels of anxiety. You certainly don’t want any of that, do you?
Work On Your Sleep Cycles
Plenty of sleep is good for your body and mind, but not too much. Also, it isn’t just the amount of sleep that’s a concern, but your cycle and patterns. In other words, a sleep cycle that’s unhealthy will drive you crazy, no matter how much sleep you get. Therefore, you may want to make sure you go to bed at night when you’re supposed to, and wake up early every morning. Those late-night movie or social media sessions are certainly no good for anxiety, so try to minimize them as much as you can.
Talk
Last but certainly not least, talk with people. Don’t hold your words back unless there’s a very strong reason you should. Feel free to tell your friends or family how you feel, and say whatever you feel like without letting anything stop you. Learning to do this can increase your confidence levels, and help ease anxiety issues. It can be hard if you’ve always been reserved or introverted. However, try and promise yourself every day that you’d make an attempt to open up a bit more.
Depression, anxiety, and stress are extremely common, but they are definitely not things to be taken for granted. The first person who’s likely to make this mistake is you. So if you want to feel better, you certainly must start with yourself.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
