Self-Help for Your Anxiety

Make a Worry Date with Yourself

     One technique to conquer worry and anxiety is to make a “worry date” with yourself for ten minutes  in the morning and another ten minutes in the evening.  During the worry session the purpose is to talk into a tape recorder, use a coach, or  talk to yourself and go over your anxieties.  If you run out of worries repeat them over and over again until the ten minutes is up.  Make yourself get as upset as you can and don't introduce any positive thoughts in your worry date.  Try this for at least ten days and you will start to notice that you are getting bored with your worries and they don't get you worked up like they used to.  If you start worrying through the day, remember that you have a worry date where you can focus on your worries.  You are not allowed to worry outside of the prescribed worry times.  This technique looks like it would backfire, but it actually helps anxiety.  One professor in a small town started a club called, “Worry Wednesdays”.  People in the community were supposed to write down all of their anxieties and mail them in by Wednesday.  He didn't look at people's letters, but felt his idea helped keep people from worrying. Writing down all your anxieties on paper and throwing them into the fireplace might achieve the same goal.  It feels satisfying to see your worries go up in smoke.

Journaling to Relieve Anxiety

     One self-help method that therapist recommend is journaling.  It is a very cheap, accessible way of venting your feelings, solving problems, and work though unresolved issues.  You should journal at least twenty minutes a day in a private place.  Don't forget to write the positive experiences along with the negative experiences.  Write about your hopes and dreams, your ambitions, your fears, and worries. Today, a lot of people take journaling into cyberspace and blog on the Internet. If you take this route, you have to ask yourself, “Do I want the whole world to know about my problems?”  For the best result, you should keep your journal private.  Who would want to publish their diary on the Internet?

Your therapist may be interest in reading your journal to know what you are thinking and feeling, but don't show it to anyone else.

The Benefits of Hobbies on  Mental Health

     Hobbies or leisure activities are often viewed by society as unproductive time because our culture emphasizes work so much. This is a throwback to the Protestant Work Ethic.  Therefore we often have guilt when we are pursuing leisure time pursuits.  Researchers have found that hobbies provide benefits not only for the individual, but society as a whole as well.   Beth Driver of the Academy of Leisure Sciences states that ,“The benefits of leisure are increased physical and mental health, economic development, family bonding, and environmental awareness.”  In fact, some of our favorite activities like playing sports, reading a book, or just sitting in a hammock are beneficial leisure activities.  For psychiatric survivors, hobbies reduce the stress that daily life puts on us and provides relaxation, a diversion from our illness, and improves our quality of life.    

     Persons with anxiety should take up a hobby, because it takes the emphasis off of their problems.     Hobbies or leisure activities are often viewed by society as unproductive time because our culture emphasizes work so much. This is a throwback to the Protestant Work Ethic.  Therefore we often have guilt when we are pursuing leisure time pursuits.  Researchers have found that hobbies provide benefits not only for the individual, but society as a whole as well.   Beth Driver of the Academy of Leisure Sciences states that ,“The benefits of leisure are increased physical and mental health, economic development, family bonding, and environmental awareness.”  In fact, some of our favorite activities like playing sports, reading a book, or just sitting in a hammock are beneficial leisure activities.  For anxiety sufferers, hobbies reduce the stress that daily life puts on us and provides relaxation, a diversion from our illness, and improves our quality of life.

Choose from the below hobbies or add one of your own .  Circle the ones that you would be interested in.

Oil painting

Acrylics

Beadwork

tye-dying

Candle and Soap making

Velvet Art

Crocheting

Cross stitch

rescuing animals

Doll House minatures

Drawing

Jewelry Making

scrap booking

Knitting

Abstract art

Painting animal portraits

Quilting

Scrap booking

Sewing

Gardening

Stamp Collecting

Refinishing antiques

Woodworking

Carving

Computer Games

Board Games

Puzzles

Bowling

Pool

Bird Watching

Genealogy

Salt water aquariums

Reading

Writing

Beachcombing

Amateur and Ham Radio

Pottery

Hiking

Ceramics

Collecting rocks, gems, minerals

Cooking

Body Building

Sports

Crossword Puzzles

Dragon Boating

Model trains

Writing

Teaching a skill

Flower Arranging

Bronze Sculpture

Volunteering at a food bank

Chill out with some leisure activities so that you manage your anxiety more effectively. 

You will be helping your own mental health and that of others.