If you'd like to beat anxiety, I offer you a hearty welcome to the club. As a long-term member and someone who has been able to overcome the grip that anxiety used to have on me, I have food for thought: Shift your focus away from beating anxiety. Notice that I didn't say I've overcome anxiety but, instead, the grip it had on me. Anxiety is part of the human experience, and it does have a place in our lives. It does not, however, deserve to be the center of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. To break free from the grip anxiety has on you, think less about anxiety, and focus on what you need instead.

Everyone with anxiety certainly has some things they have or do to keep their anxiety under control. Inevitably, some of them will strike outsiders as odd or different, but if they help, I say more power to them.

When anxiety strikes and skyrockets, chances are you'd enjoy an anxiety hack for instant relief from your symptoms. While, unfortunately, there is no quick fix for anxiety that will make it magically disappear from your life forever, there are things you can do to immediately help soothe your mind, brain, and body. When you catch yourself caught in high anxiety, try one or more of these 12 anxiety hacks to reset and center yourself so you can deal with the stressors you're facing.

I’ve always been one who enjoys traveling. However, as much as I like to travel, there is one part of the process that I’ve always been uncomfortable with: actually traveling. Traveling makes me anxious; more specifically, flying to my destination makes me anxious. I’ve been aware of this travel anxiety for as long as I began to fly regularly, but it’s only recently that I started to examine my feelings and determine why exactly traveling makes me so uncomfortable. Hopefully, this will resonate with others.

Can gratitude really help anxiety? Surprisingly, it can. Gratitude is a concept involving appreciation and a sense of thankfulness for what is good in our lives. Anxiety is an experience involving a great deal of unwelcome thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behaviors. Anxiety can be all-encompassing, rob us of a sense of wellbeing, centeredness, and joy, or even keep us locked out of the life we'd like to live. Here's a look at what gratitude is and how it helps anxiety by shifting thoughts and feelings away from anxiety and replacing them with appreciation and action.

The holiday season is here, and for many, the dreaded holiday anxiety comes with it. The ostensibly festive and happy season can cause significant stress and anxiety. However, you can create a positive, meaningful holiday despite the very legitimate worries and challenges you may experience (especially this year--holidays 2020-style). The following five tips can help you have a peaceful, positive holiday season with less anxiety.

It’s not a surprise that I am a fan of art of all kinds. I have written on this blog, in the past, about poetry and music. Today I’d like to talk about anxiety and art, specifically why art is such a powerful force in the management of anxiety.

Anxiety can be an early warning sign, alerting us to the fact that something is wrong in our lives. Are you listening to your anxiety? Granted, anxiety doesn't feel great. In fact, it can feel downright terrible. It can cause us to overthink everything, often makes us emotional, and even makes us feel physically ill. It's natural to hate anxiety and struggle against it, pushing it away and trying to decrease the symptoms. We don't typically want to sit with it and listen to it. Sometimes, though, anxiety can be an early warning system, and listening to it might be one of the best things we can do for our wellbeing and the quality of our lives.

As of now, I’m living about a block and a half away from a large lake and I'm finding the water to be calming. One of my favorite new pastimes has been to walk along the beach and listen to the waves.

Anxiety and uncertainty seem to be at an all-time high. Some are experiencing problematic anxiety (anxious thoughts, emotions, and physical symptoms that interfere in daily life) for the first time, while others who have lived with it, including those with anxiety disorders, are finding that their symptoms continue to worsen. While there are no quick fixes for anxiety (and anxiety itself is part of the human condition), I offer you here a way to reduce anxiety and create inner peace in spite of all the uncertainty around us.