It's that time of year again. It's the holiday season, and the anxiety that goes with it is here too. Even though the holidays look a little different this year due to COVID-19, anxiety is still something that you may experience. I know I do.

It's hard to stay motivated when you are experiencing anxiety. I have goals that I continuously set for myself, but when I'm anxious, it's hard to stay productive and driven to work towards those goals.

I have found that one of the most difficult aspects of dealing with chronic anxiety is coping with panic attacks. Even though I've learned how to lessen the effects of panic attacks over time, I can still be unexpectedly blindsided by one.

How are you doing with anxiety in this "new normal?" It's been several months now since COVID-19 began greatly impacting our world and increasing anxiety for so many. There have been so many changes in everyone's lives. Regardless of your situation, every person has been impacted by COVID-19 in some way.

Lately, I have been thinking about what it looks like when someone experiences mostly invisible illnesses, like anxiety and depression, and feels suicidal. Depression and anxiety are not always visible. People have expressed to me their surprise that I have dealt with chronic anxiety for a long time. But it's true, and I guess at some point I became really good at always acting like everything was fine. (Note: this post contains a trigger warning.)

How often do you think of anxiety as your friend? This may sound like a strange question, but I believe the way we relate to anxiety plays a significant role in how we experience it. Cultivating a positive relationship with anxiety can be an important part of recovery, but it's also really difficult to do.

Staying grounded is important to anxiety management because anxiety affects everyone at some point. I once read something that said that we experience anxiety because of focusing on memories or worrying about things that have not yet happened. I know that, for myself, this tends to be true. I have often found myself worrying about things I need to do the next day, or going through "what ifs," second-guessing social interactions due to my social anxiety, or stuck in thoughts about things that have happened in the past.

Have you ever noticed that movement, whether through running, walking, or yoga, reduces your anxiety? Exercise is known to improve our health, but I've benefitted immensely, particularly from yoga in times of stress. For me, yoga is the perfect synthesis of meditation and exercise.

In recent years, I have become very interested in learning more about how what I eat affects my mood and mental health. More specifically, I have found it helpful to learn about how diet can affect anxiety.

Let's face it -- anxiety does not exactly go hand-in-hand with confidence, high self-esteem, and security. I have always found that when I am anxious, I feel less confident, and vice-versa. Now that I reflect on when I was younger, any lack of confidence and insecurity I felt were often associated with my anxiety.