Struggling to know how to cope with anxiety brought on by the pandemic? Whether you have a history of high anxiety or not, this year has been uniquely trying for many employees and business owners. The same is true of the personal stress caused to individuals, families, significant-other relationships, and marriages.
Excess stress and anxiety have been common themes throughout the US and the world. When it comes to lessening stress, you only have two options. Either you remove yourself from the stressful scenario or find effective ways to cope with it.
Unfortunately, much of our pandemic-related stress isn’t easy to avoid. Most of us are immersed in uniquely trying stressors every day. And in many cases, they’re struggles we’ve never experienced before.
So, how can you decrease your anxiety during these uncertain times? While each individual will find specific coping strategies more beneficial for anxiety relief than others, here are a few examples of how to deal with anxiety.
Continue Your Previous Mental Health Treatment
If the Pandemic of 2020 has been anything, it’s been disruptive. Lost jobs, the sudden need to work from home, postponed weddings, and canceled vacations vouch for that. Worse yet, many with previously existing mental health conditions have had their treatment plans disrupted.
Thus, you must make an effort to continue with your mental health treatment plan, especially during times like these. You’ll likely benefit from professional support now more than ever before.
In his National Institute of Mental Health article entitled Coping With Coronavirus: Managing Stress, Fear and Anxiety, Joshua Gordon shares the following:
“For those with mental illnesses, be sure to continue your treatment regimens. Consider developing a plan for telehealth sessions with your provider if you (or your provider) are quarantined or must avoid exposures to the public for any reason.”
If you’re experiencing concerning mental health symptoms for the first time, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Doing so takes courage and is nothing to be ashamed of. It could save your life and keep your family together and healthy.
Remember, you’re not alone! You don’t have to put that kind of pressure and shame on yourself. Nearly everyone is struggling in some way with how to reduce anxiety at the moment.
Limit Your News Exposure
Cutting back on your news consumption is a good idea if you’ve been wondering how to relieve anxiety. Although you want to stay informed, it can be easy to get sucked into the worst-case scenario stories featured throughout each day. Bad news still sells, and there’s plenty of it out there if you go looking for it.
For that reason, set limits on how much news you read or watch. You can do little to change most of what you witness. Find that healthy balance between being informed and not adding unnecessary stress to your life.
Maintain Meaningful Connections with People
We already discussed some of the disruptions people have experienced because of the pandemic. Our social lives have been interrupted in ways we previously wouldn’t have thought possible too.
Whether this happened because of lockdowns, job loss, school closures or canceled events, it’s become easy to isolate. To some extent, we’re no longer in our social routines and don’t quite know how to act.
Because of this, it’s vital to reach out to close friends and family through technology if you can’t meet face-to-face. Fight the urge to isolate yourself from others when figuring out how to overcome anxiety. We need each other even more during hard times.
Take Good Care of Your Overall Health
Not surprisingly, the many stressors brought on by the pandemic have led to an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle for many. This could be due to the loss of a work or school routine. It also may have been made worse by the challenges of shifting to remote work while children remain home from school. All of those uncertainties can lead to unhealthy diets and inconsistent workout regimens.
When stress levels are high, one of the first things to go is self-care. When deciding on how to stop anxiety, be aware that you may need to be more intentional about taking care of yourself and your family right now. Be sure to prioritize a healthy diet, exercise, and plenty of sleep. Also, make intellectual and spiritual growth a priority.
Learn How to Cope with Anxiety Through Counseling
If you’ve been struggling with pandemic-related anxiety, seriously consider seeing an anxiety therapist. By doing so, you’ll gain a nonjudgmental, confidential, and highly trained ally to help you during these tough times.
The OC Relationship Center can provide you with evidence-based methods to overcome the mental and physical symptoms of anxiety. You’ll also gain a better understanding of what causes anxiety. That may be done best through relationship counseling, marriage counseling or individual therapy.
Serving the Orange County, California region, we have offices in Newport Beach and Mission Viejo. We also provide teletherapy. Scheduling an appointment with us only takes a moment but could be the first step to lasting positive change.
