Hello everyone I am new to reddit and want to share some tips i’ve learned over the years of having anxiety. Brief backstory: i’ve struggled with anxiety on and off my entire life. i’ve dealt with separation anxiety, GAD, social anxiety, and panic attacks. going to therapy is obviously the first thing I recommend. but the most important therapy is you have to do the homework they give you. if you feel like your therapist isn’t meeting your needs switch to a different one. One of the biggest tips that I give to everyone is the breathe. breathing is the most important part because it can stop an anxiety attack in its tracks. it doesn’t always work right away though so you have to practice. every day said that a couple times where you can practice your slow breathing. after practicing you can incorporate your breathing when having an attack. try your hardest not to shame yourself or get down when it doesn’t work. it’s a process and not every time is going to be perfect. The second thing I would recommend is meditation. meditation doesn’t always work the first time as well especially since it’s hard to concentrate on when you’re anxious or stressed. but keep trying it and eventually you should see results. another thing that is a quick solution is putting an ice pack over your nose and cheeks. this is a shock to your system and can help calm you down. another tip is to start at your toes and squeeze them as hard as possible for a couple seconds and then release. you then move up to your calves, squeeze them and then release. then you move up to your thighs and so on and so forth. not only is a good distraction but it helps you relax all of your muscles so you’re not so tense. One of the important parts of getting rid of your anxiety is realizing your triggers. if there are people in your life that regularly make you anxious it might be Time to cut them off. but if there is a situation or place that makes you anxious I recommend to not avoid it. The more you avoid it the more you feed into your anxiety. while I don’t recommend throwing yourself into the situation, I do recommend slowly building yourself up to be able to face it. this is with exposure therapy and you have to start off slow to avoid making the fear worse. so say if you’re scared to go out to eat you could start off slow by just walking into a restaurant and sitting down but not ordering anything. or even by ordering and then eating the food in your car. and then slowly work your way up to be able to eat inside the restaurant. rationalizing your thoughts is super important with anxiety because the majority of the time your thoughts are irrational. so if you’re overthinking talk to yourself. tell yourself “ I am over thinking and I’m going to be okay. there is no signs that I’m going to be in harms way and my anxiety is tricking me.” even if it means talking to yourself for hours and rationalizing your thoughts it gets easier over time. I hope this helps someone!