Overcome Fear and Anxiety in 30 seconds

Knowing the best strategies to cope can help you overcome negative feelings fast

We all know the sinking, paralyzed feeling you get when something triggers your anxiety and you just want to run away and hide from the world. It can be hard to get past that and continue to function normally. Fear and anxiety shouldn’t stop us from living a normal life.

To be able to get past those feelings it’s important to have some strategies to deal with them when they come up. Fear and anxiety are emotional states and we need to learn the best way to shift those emotional states when they arise. The first thing to remember is that you are in control of your emotions, they do not control you.

The images that you make in your mind about the situation are helping to create your emotions. If you are making images in your mind of all the ways a situation can go badly your body and mind will react to that. If you shift your focus to everyone clapping and smiling at the end of your speech or an interviewer saying it was nice to meet you after you’ve interviewed for a job it will change the emotions your body is feeling. So the first thing you need to do is make a picture in your mind of how this scenario that is triggering anxiety could turn out well for you, what’s the best-case scenario?

Then you should think about how would someone that was feeling confident in this situation act? Would they smile and hold their head up high? Would they be breathing deeply and calmly? Would they walk and talk with a purpose? Holding your body in that manner will also help you feel calmer and more confident.

The trick to overcoming fear and anxiety is to flip that scenario into something positive, picture the end result of the best outcome in your mind, take deep breaths and hold your body confidently. Imagine that the situation is over and all has turned out well for you. These small shifts can help you move past your anxieties and get past the situations that trigger these negative feelings.

One final tip is something that I do often myself when I’m in a stressful situation is I stop and take a couple of deep breaths to make sure I’m getting enough oxygen to my brain. Then I repeat my favorite affirmation to myself “Everything is now, always has been, and always will be ok”