Ironically enough, ever since my last guide about decreasing your anxiety, I’ve been somewhat of a mess. Anxiety took over with my exams right around the corner and the desperation of passing with an overall great percentage. My social interactions this month have also taken a big toll on me and I was actually awoken, in a terrifying manner, by sheer panic one night. I was so proud to say that I didn’t get any severe panic attacks for months but being in a new place completely different from your own mixed with university stress can really get your anxiety going.

Overall, my first semester abroad has been quite the odd one but more on that later. Other than that, it has been an extremely rewarding experience. I’ve learned so much about myself and the world around me in a pretty short time, especially in regard to my unease and fears. Today, I hope to once again share my knowledge with you in order to help others through my blog. Whether you have anxiety or not, these tips should help you regardless.

The Silver Lining

We constantly hear it throughout our days: “look at the silver lining.” However, all round it seems everyone just finds it easier to notice and comment on the negative situations they’re experiencing. Even if it’s simple and small, we always think it’s more effortless to put our full focus on everything wrong going on around us. As discussed previously on my blog, altering your perspective on something negative, like a weakness, can truly be life changing. At the end of the day, those small problems you feel are so important to you now, won’t really matter in the long run. Most of the issues we experience we quickly forget about with time, it’s just our anxiety and worry bickering.

Improving the way you look at things really does help with handling circumstances around you day by day. Maybe calmly looking at a problem you’re experiencing will help you find a better solution than what you thought out before? Thinking about others in this manner can also really help with social interactions because you’re not constantly reflecting on their flaws. And I know it’s far harder than it sounds to change your overall mindset but with some adjustments and practice, you’re going to start looking for that silver lining in every cloud!

Breathe

There’s a reason several sports and physical activities have breathing exercises, it’s one of the best things you can do to calm yourself. A lot of us tend to forget to breathe properly when experiencing something difficult. Breathing slowly has helped me several times in battling an impending panic attack and is a sure way of soothing oneself generally.

Wanting Friends

Society creates this allure when it comes to people who have many friends. If you’re popular among the people around you and constantly out and about with different individuals, you’re happy and very accepted. I suffered through this a lot through high school as I felt awful not being popular and not having a wide range of friends everywhere. I believe this is because we are constantly told to love to socialize and always be yearning to make connections with others. Looking back, I finally concluded after high school that one key to happiness is accepting yourself in many ways, this very much included. It’s okay if you spend the whole day binge watching your favorite show instead of socializing if it makes YOU comfortable and happy. The urge to continuously please people around you can bring a lot of turmoil and why stress when you can be dancing?

Please look forward to the next part of this guide, you can find the last part here.