Write down your feelings

To help you understand your anxiety you could keep a diary or a record of what you are doing day to day and note how you feel at different times. This will help you identify what's affecting you and what you need to take action on.

Challenge anxious thoughts

Try and be more aware of your thoughts. When you have an anxious thought it will help to ‘catch’ it and think about how you can change it to a more positive one. Controlling unhelpful, negative thoughts is one of the best things we can do to feel less anxious.

Make time for worries

Rather than spending the whole day worrying, try and set aside a time in the day when you can make time to look at your concerns.

Use this time to write down your worries and plan what steps you can do to change each one. This can help in several ways, it helps get worrying thoughts out of your head onto paper, you will become more aware of your thoughts and may be able to see them from a different angle and thinking about and planning solutions will give you a sense of control and focus.

Do something you enjoy

Change your focus by doing something you enjoy that helps you feel calm and relaxed and helps you switch -off from anxious thoughts. This could be anything from doing something creative, gardening, having a soak in the bath, baking…. whatever is good for you. Many people also find relaxation, mindfulness or breathing exercises helpful as they reduce tension and focus our awareness on the present moment.

Talk to someone you trust

Talk about how you are feeling with a trusted friend or family member, someone who you have found to be supportive and who will listen to your concerns and someone who you can touch base with over the coming weeks.

Find support

There is a lot of information on-line, the links we have included in this post might help you to understand more about your anxiety and you might find some useful information on taking steps to reduce anxiety and learn to cope better in worrying situations.