Five practical tips for dealing with anxiety | iQ Feel Good

A lot of us will experience anxiety at some point in our life. Finding the way to cope that works for you is so important in making sure that these feelings don’t overwhelm our day to day lives.

At the iQ Feel Good Roundtable, we heard from some chief advocates of mental health about practical ways that we can understand and deal with our own feelings of anxiety. Here are some of their top tips.

Figure out what anxiety looks like for you

Anxiety is different for everyone. Finding out what anxiety looks like for you is the first step in knowing how to combat it.

“You need to educate and understand yourself. Understand the signs of anxiety in you. That's how you help demystify it.

So once you understand it, you are able to identify the underlying causes. You're able to basically implement healthy boundaries. You're able to seek professional help if you need to. And then it also helps you once you're able to do this, and understand it and set these boundaries.

And then you can build a routine, a support structure that helps you deal with anxiety.” - Leon Gichana, Student Advisory Committee Member at Student Minds

Identify who you can rely on

Having a support network is crucial. You don’t have to deal with these feelings alone. Try and identify the people in your life that you can rely on, and if you feel like you can’t do this, reach out to charities that can help you.

“One of the things we do when we're talking to people on our crisis text line is help them identify who those people are, who that person is. And we can get people chasing us when they're sitting in their office or they're in the middle of a big group, people can be alone or can be lonely in the middle of a crowd.

Working out where you feel you belong is so important.” - Dr Fiona Pienaar, Clinical Advisor at Shout

Find an outlet

We all have things we enjoy, even if they’re little things like watching TV or taking a walk to the local coffee shop. Figure out what helps you breathe easy and build routines with those things to help you relax.

“Healthy relationships are very important to mental health. Absolutely essential. All sorts of kinds of relationships - with nature too. Unless I can see green outside my window, I just can't breathe. With music, with the arts, all very important and I can't go to sleep without reading as well.” – The Revd Dr Ela Nutu Hall, Head of Residence Life at University of Sheffield

Step outside of your comfort zone

It an be easy to get in a rut when figuring out ways to deal with stress and anxiety. Though it might seem daunting, stepping out of your comfort zone can help stimulate you and help you figure out ways to feel better that you might not have expected.

“Grab every opportunity to do something if you want to do something. It’s that idea of finding your home away from home. So the natural environment is actually very, very important in terms of the safety, the security, you know, the atmosphere around you.

Being too much within your comfort zone isn’t really good for you. So we’re encouraging our students to take a step outside of their comfort zone and try new things. You know, so go to an event that you haven't tried before, go walking.

Just trying new things, go biking, try a new language, you know, make friends, try cooking for the first time in your life. And that's another exciting that our students have to face, you know, transitioning to independent living. Some don't know how to cook. So we put cookery classes for them on, and we try to actually facilitate learning from every single angle.” – The Revd Dr Ela Nutu Hall, Head of Residence Life at University of Sheffield

Find a safe space to make your own

A clear mind is helped by a space where you feel free. Building a space to call your own and where you can feel safe can be a huge factor in maintaining your peace of mind.

“It’s obvious that not having a place to call your own has a big impact on mental health. We all need that somewhere we can go where it's ours and we can recharge our batteries.” – Dr Fiona Pienaar, Clinical Advisor at Shout