I legitimately used to have the worst anxiety ever. It ruined my life for a while, it got to the point where I would constantly be cancelling plans and skipping class since I would always be in a state of panic. Panic attacks every day constantly, I could never be alone with my thoughts or I would spiral. Genuinely awful. I was taking some medication for it but my body did not handle it well so I stopped, I felt so lost. But I am finally overcoming it, and here are some mindset changes I did to start getting better!!

The biggest thing I can say is to be mindful of your thoughts. If your thoughts have the power to completely debilitate you, then they have the power to do the opposite. Be aware of when you’re overthinking, spiraling, getting in your own head, etc. and stop to take a breath. For me personally, I would always get caught up in the “what ifs?” and the worst possible case scenarios of anything and everything. Try to ground yourself and remember that you are in control of your own situation. And if it is a situation beyond your control, remember that you are in control of how you feel about it. This was the biggest mental obstacle for me to get through, but genuinely the one that has helped the most! 

Something else that has helped me hugely is meditating and breathing exercises. I used to always write this off as ridiculous before I tried it, but this has genuinely helped me so much. Like I mentioned earlier, my anxiety made it impossible for me to be alone with my thoughts. It was bad to the point where I would make my boyfriend sit in the bathroom with me while I showered so I wouldn’t start overthinking and spiraling. But meditating has helped so much with being at peace with myself! It has allowed me to be more comfortable in my own head, something I thought was impossible not too long ago. Get an app, listen to guided exercises online, whatever. I can say that this really helped me!

The last huge tip that helped for me is journaling. This is so important with keeping track of progress and little milestones with your mental health. It doesn’t need to be detailed entries, just like, what is something I did today that I’m proud of? What am I grateful for? I find that this helps me be much more positive and helps me keep track of the little victories! I know that this is all probably pretty generic advice, but I am someone who genuinely didn’t think it would ever get better. And it did. I’m not anxiety free yet, but I can confidently say that I am on the right track! I know that anxiety is different for everyone and different things help different people, but hopefully this can do something for at least one other person :)

Extra tips: someone who has really helped me is thewizardliz on YouTube, especially if you’re a girl. Reading has also been an escape for me, I am reading Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza and it is a fascinating insight into the power our mind has over us!