Mindful activities can reduce anxiety

Calm relaxed couple meditating at home doing yoga relaxation. [Getty Images]

Anxiety is a mental health condition that overwhelms you with feelings of stress and worry. It can come up due to certain triggers like emotional traumas or just hook itself onto any fears you may have; like not being able to provide for your family even when you have a secure, well-paying job.

When you’re struggling with anxiety, it’s not enough to just tell yourself to stop being worried. It needs daily, intentional habits that slowly help those anxious feelings fade along with therapy or medication in extreme cases.

Anyone who has dealt with this struggle of having an exaggerated fight or flight response to everything knows how mentally and exhausting it is.

Start journaling: An anxious brain usually jumps from one thought to another making it hard to know exactly how you are feeling and why you are feeling the way you do.

With journaling, you are able to have some clarity which is like a mini therapy session.

Buy a diary or journal you will specifically use to offload your emotions every day. You will see there is so much power in writing down how you feel.

Deep breathing exercises: Deep breathing has amazing benefits for mental health. It will slow down your heart rate, which is a quick remedy when you are experiencing an anxious episode.

Another good thing about deep breathing is that you can do it anywhere and the results are almost immediate.

You should do it first thing in the morning before rushing to check your social media and make it a part of your daily activities to keep you calm throughout the day.

Identify your triggers: If you take time to analyse your emotional responses, you will see some trends when it comes to triggers. There are times when anxiety comes up without any direct cause, but in many cases, you can note that certain situations always awaken those stressful feelings.

Knowing your triggers is important because you are able to prepare yourself early or even avoid putting yourself in certain situations that will make you feel worse.

Meditation: Meditating every day is one of the most effective ways of readjusting your mind. That part of you that is constantly worried about everything needs to be reorganized and you can do that by bringing more positivity into your life.

You can try mediating every day on Bible verses that talk about anxiety for instance, which will slowly push away all the negative scenarios your mind is trying to force on you. 

Go for walks: Daily life can be overwhelming. There is so much happening all the time and we are always busy with work and home life.

A great technique you can try out is taking walks a few times a week or every day if possible. Being outdoors in a calm environment will help you feel better and the action of taking a walk is a therapeutic activity. This is something you can look forward to for both physical and mental well-being.