I've had SO much stress/worrying/anxiety in my life for the past week or two and I need to just find a way to get RID of it. It's making me lethargic and I don't want to do anything but lay around (which makes it worse!!) it's also affecting my eating which I've posted a thread about previously in weight loss support.

What do you do to get rid of anxiety? Go for a walk? Clean? My room is a disaster and I need to finish packing so I guess I could just open a window and clean clean clean like crazy...however I hate cleaning so I don't see how doing something I hate could get rid of stress.

Any ideas?

Cleaning really works for me. Even if I'm slightly annoyed at having to do it at first, there's something about taking something messy and making it clean that helps me. I blast music and have a dance party cleaning festival.

I also find that really aggressive, physical workouts help me. HIIT running, kickboxing, lifting really heavy. Again, crank up the music and kick your own butt a little bit. The resulting exhaustion makes it hard to feel anxious.

If my mind starts wondering to stressful thoughts I tell myself that stress will stall my weight loss and give me a no-care attitude which will derail me, for sure. There are certain people I just refuse to think about and during stressful situations I try to step back and use the outsider looking in approach to keep my stress at a minimum. I second the notion that cleaning does help. It makes you feel better, burn some calories, and clears your mind.

I like to think of stress/anxiety/negative emotions as a feedback mechanism. If I'm consistently feeling this way, whatever I am doing in my life is not working and I need to do something different. There are things you can do for a quick fix but the stress will just come back.

Like Mandalinn I recommend cleaning and organizing too, I believe in fung shui. I think that the space you live in impacts how you feel. Having a cluttered space makes you feel all over the place. Likewise having a clean house makes me feel peaceful.

I recommend the book "Anger, wisdom for cooling the flames" by Thich Nhat Hahn. It could easily be read in a day and offers alot of practical advise for dealing with negative emotions. It helped me alot.

First, order the book the Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety. Then read it, work through it and listen to the CD.

The more you try to fight, manage and get rid of anxiety, the worse it gets. The more you can accept it, make room for it as part of the total experience of being you, and realize that the thoughts, feelings and physical sensations are just that, and not The Truth, the easier it is.

It seems counter intuitive, but acknowledging, making room for and accepting anxiety is the way to go.

And, feeling what you feel but still doing the things that need to be done in order for you to have the life you want (like clean, exercise, work, etc) is key, too.

So, yes, doing all those things you don't feel like doing is what you need to do. Tell you mind it is not in charge of your hands and feet and get moving.

I play video games, listen to music, do kundalani yoga, meditate, do mantras (works better then anything else!), take an extra long shower, sunbath (i know its bad for you but i can feel the negativity melt away), smoke cigarettes (don't recommend), watch tv, talk to an old friend, read a good book, etc. when I'm stressed. It's better to have lots of different ways to destress then just one. That way if one doesn't work you can move on to another. Just find something that works for you.

Our sermon at church was on worry today...this may help you.



http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/vid...98971&comments

Some vitamins may help. I take 3 flaxseed capsules each day and 2000mg vitamin d. Also stress b vitamin. I added these when decided to go off antidepressant, and nurse practitioner suggested that I look into vitamins to help me. I think they work. Can't hurt!

I went through a severe anxiety phase ( worse than my normal everyday anxiety) a few years ago when my father was dying of colon cancer. I went to a therapist who suggested that I make a list of everything that I was anxious about,and place them in 2 columns. Column 1 was the things I could do something about. Column 2 was the things over which I had no control. Being able to commit that to paper was a big big help! Also, lack of sleep makes anxiety so much worse, especially when you lay awake all night because of worry. My dr prescribed a sleeping med for me because I wasn't sleeping AT ALL. It has made a world of difference!

I told him that I didn't want to become addicted to a sleeping aid. He said "addiction is holding up a drugstore to get your meds. You may become dependant, but not addicted." wise words to me in my situation.

I hope you find some relief - anxiety can be very draining physically and emotionally!

ETA: I didn't start taking a sleeping aid until a year ago, when my college age daughter was in an abusive relationship and we had to resort to law enforcement and the court system. I didn't make the decision to take meds lightly, but I couldn't sleep for fear of receiving a terrible phone call every night ....

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I'm trying not to stress. Today was actually the first day that I ate full meals plus snacks in almost two weeks. I was SO RAVENOUS today, I probably went over my carbs and calories but I'm sure it was just my body wanting food after I deprived it for a while; I'm going to try not to stress if the scale is up for a few days.

Music has helped so much! I find that if I relax with some catchy mindless music on (like top hits stations) I can just sing along and dance a little bit. Thank you so much for the suggestions; If I'm feeling bad again tomorrow I'll come and read this thread again.