My Anxiety Management Plan for the New Year

Last year was a good one, and in terms of coping with my anxiety, it was a productive year. We are entering a new year, and it's a great time to self-reflect on the events over the last year -- happy memories, life lessons, and everything in between. As someone who struggles with anxiety, this includes how I've used an anxiety management plan throughout the year.

This last year, as I've gone through times with high levels of anxiety or panic attacks, I've had to be very intentional about techniques that I could use to cope. Because anxiety is something I've dealt with for many years, I've finally found myself in a place in life where I have been strategic about how I cope.

So, as we are now moving into 2023, I can't help but think about what will be important, moving forward, for my anxiety management plan.

My Anxiety Management Plan for the New Year

Throughout the year, it has been helpful for me to focus on self-care. By focusing on self-care strategies, I've basically built up my armor for dealing with anxiety. This has meant making sure that I exercise, even on the rare day I don't want to. This has also meant meditating regularly and spending more time outdoors. I've also finally gotten to the point where I can sleep restfully through the night, and because of that, I've noticed a difference in both my energy and anxiety levels.

This year, I plan to take more time to focus on sleep. I plan to keep track of my sleeping patterns and go to bed following a specific routine every night to make sure that I am getting enough sleep.

I also plan to journal more often, which is something I don't think I did enough of during this last year. This blog is a means of journaling for me; however, I also feel I should journal at least weekly, if not every couple of days. Journaling has been crucial for me in identifying my thought patterns and organizing the feelings that I experience. This helps relieve my anxiety because it prevents me from being confused by my emotions and allows me to stay grounded.

Another strategy that I need to work on more often is using self-affirmations. As I've mentioned in previous articles, struggling with anxiety typically goes hand-in-hand with low self-esteem and self-confidence. This is something I've been battling for quite some time, and this year, I'd like to work on this even more.

I'm not sure how long it will take me to overcome this or if I ever will, but one of my goals is to tell myself positive statements consistently. Hopefully, this will help reduce the number of cognitive distortions that I lean towards, resulting in negative thinking.

The last strategy I plan to work on is self-forgiveness. Part of the cycle of low self-esteem and anxiety that I experience is related to not forgiving myself for decisions I've made in the past. And throughout my years, as I've gone through different experiences and made a variety of choices, it's almost as though I've progressively given myself more of a reason to disparage myself, even though logically, I know that I am human and that we all make mistakes. Part of what I know I need to work on is being more forgiving of the fact that I haven't always made the best choice, but this is part of being human.

I plan to focus specifically on these strategies in the new year. What is your anxiety management plan for the new year? Share the strategies you will use in the comments below.