Ways to help deal with anxiety

Hey readers,

I have autism and what accompanies that is anxiety. I don’t think you can permanently get rid of it, sadly it interlinks with the condition. That being said you can help reduce the anxiety with finding ways that can help minimise the anxiety.

One of the things that I really struggle with my anxiety is really badly shaking especially with my hands. They literally cannot stop moving, it is normally triggered in social situations. It is hard to hold a cup – and yes I have dropped a fair few in my time.

Therefore, I have spent much time working ways to reduce shaking hands because it really annoys me. I get so frustrated and embarrassed.

The first technique to help reduce shaky hands is to focus on my breathing, keeping my attention on the basic principles with breathing in and out. 

Making sure I am aware of my lungs up and down and making sure that all the thoughts are put aside, even if it is just constantly reminding myself to focus on the breathing. 

At first, it is really hard because it is training your brain to think different but stick with it as it does get easier with practice and time. However, it is a great tool as it gives you time to slow down with your thoughts and think about breathing. This in turns slows down the fight or flight response.

If my anxiety is triggered by having to wait around distraction techniques are really good. For me, this may include writing poetry in a book or colouring in. Both types of distraction help stop me from thinking about the anxiety and feeding into it.

Reducing caffeine can help, as caffeine is a stimulant and can cause an increase in anxiety and heart racing.

Hand stretching has helped with trying to reduce the amount of adrenaline in my hand. Stretching out the fingers and pushing all my energy out. I focus on each finger at a time and notice the reactions that are occurring when doing it. 

This exercise can help once again in slowing down the anxiety and focusing on something other than the intrusive thoughts.

Is there anything that has helped you with anxiety, I would love to hear your thoughts?

Cheers for reading X