When you have anxiety, it can be hard to be calm or to feel calm. The anxious brain behaves like a pinball machine: areas, systems, structures, hormones, and neurotransmitters zing anxiety and accompanying thoughts and feelings around and send them ricocheting around our very being. The result is that it seems impossible to be calm with anxiety. You don't have to let anxiety control you. Here are three creative ways to be calm when you have anxiety. 

  It can be quite easy to feel anxious and overwhelmed by life.  Days are hectic, to-do lists are full, and we're just plain busy. This unrelenting busyness is overwhelming and can cause anxiety. Regain control of yourself and your life the fun way: by celebrating little accomplishments every day. 

Anxiety and overthinking tend to be evil partners. One of the horrible hallmarks of any type of anxiety disorder is the tendency to overthink everything. The anxious brain is hypervigilant, always on the lookout for anything it perceives to be dangerous or worrisome. I've been accused of making problems where there aren't any. To me, though, there are, indeed, problems. Why? Because anxiety causes me to overthink everything. Anxiety makes us overthink everything in many different ways, and the result of this overthinking isn't helpful at all. Fortunately, anxiety and overthinking everything doesn't have to be a permanent part of our existence. 

Few people would place anxiety among their "best of 2015" lists. It is, though, that time when the year winds down and "best of" lists abound. Is it possible to make a list entitled "Anxiety: Best of 2015?" Not only is it possible, it's actually a pretty good thing to do (How To Create An Emergency Anxiety Tool Kit). Here's how to make a best of 2015 list for anxiety and why you should consider making one of your own. 

Anxiety is often related to a sense of control; anxiety can be caused by a lack of a sense of control in one or more areas of life. This lack of control can cause a powerless feeling in the face of fears and worries. The lack of a sense of control can leave us feeling anxious, worried, or fearful when we don't think we should be. When you feel a vague, nagging worry, tension, edginess, or irritability but, frustratingly, can't identify a reason, perhaps the anxiety is connected to sense of control. How, exactly, can this sense of control cause anxiety? And what can we do about it? 

Social anxiety rarely works alone. Mind-reading and projecting, two negative thoughts that manipulate your mind, contribute to social anxiety, feeding it and super-sizing it. Social anxiety can be exhausting because of the chatter of racing thoughts going on inside the head. Someone with social anxiety takes in what's going on around him while simultaneously listening to harsh internal dialogue berating him and telling him he's worthless and that everyone else thinks so, too. Social anxiety can be a monster, and mind-reading and projecting are among its minions. 

An anxious brain is an active brain, and it can feel that there's only space for anxiety and certainly no room for gratitude. Don't be mistaken; it's not that people living with anxiety don't have gratitude in their heart. Having an anxious brain doesn't mean that someone is cold, uncaring, or ungrateful. Often, the opposite is true: sometimes people experience anxiety such as social anxiety disorder or generalized anxiety disorder because they care a great deal. People living with anxiety do have gratitude in their heart, but it can feel like there's no room for gratitude in an anxious brain (Anxiety: It's In Your Head [Your Brain]). This latter part, though, is a false belief. 

Anxiety can stop us in our tracks, and the idea of turning anxiety into action can seem impossible. Anxiety involves worry and fear. Together, these make a team of control-freaks that attempts to keep people from living their lives fully, from stepping forward confidently into the world. Anxiety prevents people from taking action. However, did you know that you can turn anxiety into action? Here’s a simple formula to turn your anxiety into action. 

Sometimes I have to say I'm not sorry because I over-apologize thanks to my anxiety disorder. Apologising is a positive thing when done sincerely and is an act that can wield great power. In fact, it can often be an extremely brave thing to do indeed. To admit that you are somehow in the wrong is a vital part of human communication and is a skill that many stubborn people would do well to learn (I Was Wrong And I Am Sorry). However, for those of us with anxiety we can find ourselves saying sorry way too much and often unnecessarily. Sometimes I over-apologize because of my anxiety disorder.

It's common to experience anxiety over a loved one's health. Whether someone lives with an anxiety disorder or if anxiety isn't normally bothersome, when a loved one is facing health problems, most people experience some degree of worry and fear about whether a loved one will be okay. When facing anxiety over a loved one's health, there are some dos and don'ts to help guide you and ease anxiety.