Dealing with anxiety

[Birdie]

I am posting this in the knowledge forum because I wish to gain knowledge on how to effectively and healthily deal with anxiety issues.


So please, proffer your techniques.

[Absurd]

Breathe.

Properly.

Hyperventilation is often the cause of it.

[Gilly]

Meditate. I wish I still had the discipline for it. It worked miracles for me. If you do it right, its better than drugs.

[Creepy-Snaps]

1) Change your perception of yourself.
2) Change your perception of the problem.

Ie.: Stressed out about failing an exam.
#1: Tell yourself you can do it. Change your self-perception, saying that you'll study hard, answer questions well, and do awesome on the exam.
#2: What if you don't do well on the exam? There will be more. Or is the exam really that difficult? What are other students who are doing well in the class doing? The exam will be easy.

Those 2 principles can be applied to virtually any stressful situation you will encounter in your entire life. Mastering them can rid you of large amounts of stress and anxiety, and help you relax better and live a healthier life.

[Crispy]

Smoke indica, not sativa.

[DirectorAbbie]

I carefully evaluate my situation, decide what I can do, do it, and leave the rest up to God. (That's fate for the atheists out there.)

[rat1]

xanax.

[Creepy-male]

Smart Options for the whole family
----------------------------------------

Maintaining your health (eat/sleep regularly, maintain circadian rhythmn)
Scheduling your time (alleviate anxiety about future events by feeling prepared)
Reading a book, watching a movie, or some calm introverted activity
Take a walk in a quiet area (woods, trail, etc)
Physical Activity
Rant
Engage in a creative activity
Do something epic



Options which will only apply to a few
---------------------------------------

Furiously Masturbate
Berate and verbally abuse your subordinates at work
If you can't do that then berate and verbally abuse employees at a store you shop at
Buy a huge 4x4 deisel hemi truck and tailgate people into submission
Find someone pathetic and in need and force them to do things which humiliate them in exchange for what they are desperate for (sex, money, recognition)
Find soft targets to troll on the internet
Pray to jesus and remind yourself everything else that annoys you is evil and will burn in hell
Find a group that hates something in particular and join them in ranting about it while imagining you are ranting about what really frustrates you

[Gilly]

Smoke indica, not sativa.

This is option #2.

[Korpsy Knievel]

Though I'm slacking off in my own practice I also favor meditation. Ask me about it on IRC.

If I can get my shit together in the next hour (which will include wearing wet clothes since there's no time for them to be both clean and dry) I should finally be attending an intro class at the nearby zen joint.

Update: Procrastination defeats zen once again. Oh well. At least I've gotten in a shower and a haircut, and it isn't even Christmas yet!

[Creepy-male]

2) Change your perception of the problem.

2) Guenter has lately been feeling down working late shifts at Dachau, sometimes he questions the ethics of the organization he is part of and feels guilty. But now Guenter sees things different. Jews aren't really even people! With this recognition Guenter immediately felt the anxiety and tension slip away, and found his new duties at the camp to be cathartic and rewarding.


Hehe... I kid. But seriously there is such thing as denial and anxiety does serve a purpose sometimes. Imo its about tension and release. When things build up too much people need release and resolution.

[Beautiful sky]

What are you anxious of?
My sister, an ESE, has big test anxiety. So much so that she's often failed at multiple choice tests because she's hyperventilated her anxiety and had to go the bathroom or the nurses office. It was worse with math.

[Lobo]

What has helped me in that regard is to identify anxiety that is caused by not having enough control over a situation and basically letting go. There are probably a lot of good books out there to get you into that state of mind.

[jessica129]

A lot of things give me anxiety. I think I have generalized anxiety. The worst is definitely not knowing how things will turn out. How do I deal? I drink and take a lot of herbal pills haha

[Hot Scalding Gayser]

Gilly is right. Meditate. (But you have to actually be meditating and not just daydreaming which makes it worse)

Basically the idea is to calm down your thoughts and meditate them down, medicate them down, so you can handle physical challenges better. So physical stimuli like fast moving traffic , annoying people, don't bother you and hold you back.

Some anxiety is normal. But it needs to be based on a real, actual *physical* threat or it will just cripple you. The idea is to feel the proper emotions given the physical situation.

Talking to other people about my problems rarely helps me because I'm too smart at how they will narcissitically interpersonally exploit me and want to take advantage of my weaknesses, for commercial gain. If you want to share stuff with others you have to make sure it's somebody that's really caring and empathetic for real, and understanding and won't just sociopathically smirk at your issues. Only 'bitch' to true friends, not to people who will just use that against you some way because they get a kick out of seeing you suffer.

Once you meditate properly it really opens up so many new worlds where you can actually get shit done and overcome stuff.

[Creepy-male]

I don't really think meditating is so difficult, but then again there are varying levels of peacefulness able to be achieved based on how experienced you are at it. Its just really achieving a state of physical and mental being/harmony.

My current theory on myself is that I prefer to move my anxiety out. Which is usually like walking, driving, or running. Traffic has gotten so horrible I've reverted to running instead of driving. I used to especially enjoy in college the ability to stay up late and drive for like an hour at night, its extremely peaceful. I recently tried doing that and got pulled over, and then came into work the next day tired and feeling like shit knowing the rest of the day I was paying off my ticket by working - so I run now.

I think it also explains my obsession with video games in highschool and early college, I always found it relaxing to repetitively play games, usually games with movement over strategy/rpgs (though I like those too, I just don't play them as repetitively). I think the movement would eventually relax me. It would focus me into a zone where I was moving and doing something and eventually things would get easier and easier and more effortless and it would be like a fluid trance after some time.

[Raver]

I meditate every single night before I go to bed for 20 minutes. I have been doing this for a year and four months It keeps me calm and "aware" of my own other people's behavior every single day. Whenever I decide to skip a day, I notice a big difference on the days I don't meditate, which is mostly higher levels of anxiety and stress.

I also exercise 5 times a week, which is comprised of 30 minutes jogging, and about 5 minutes walking before and after. Exercise is so undervalued, after a good jog I feel the blood flowing throughout my mind and body. I feel much happier and I can think much more clearly. I also feel I can socialize much better as well and that my energy levels are much higher. When I don't jog on a consistent basis, I notice I do tend to get more lethargic and depressed.

Those are just the short term benefits by the way. Not to mention the long term benefits of doing exercise and meditation can improve your overall health and your own brain will become much developed as well. So basically exercise + meditation = less anxiety and stress and more energy and happiness.

[Bluenoir]

I try to remind myself of the total inconsequentiality of the things causing the anxiety. Consciously controling my breathing also seems to work wonders for me.