How can I manage generalized anxiety naturally?

I'm currently suffering from generalized anxiety disorder which causes sleep problems, constant worry, overthinking, physical pains, tension, and has also sometimes made me quick to anger. I believe this anxiety is a result of several years of trauma, climate anxiety, financial anxiety, family problems, loss, etc. I have been working on reaching a level of acceptance and expressing forgiveness for all the things that have happened in my life that have contributed to this anxiety. I've made some great progress. However, even with this progress and coming to terms with my past, I still feel anxious in my daily life due to a number of things. I'm looking for a professional's perspective on how I can manage anxiety on a daily basis and keep myself calm so that I can live a happy life.
Asked by Finn
Answered
10/30/2022

Thank you for your question. Firstly, I would encourage you to do some work around disciplining your mind as anxiety causes your thoughts to excel and before you know it you are engulfed with irrational thoughts, tending to go to worse case scenarios. 

A key is to understand what you are fearing (as anxiety is 9/10 times fear based and your mind making up circumstances that have not happened) - once you work out the fears you can work on the probabilities of those circumstances happening and rationalize with them. From there you can start to put challenges in. 

The next step is to work on disciplining your mind, so having a key word such as 'discipline' when your thoughts start to wander, focus on the word and tell yourself discipline for example and disrupt the thoughts and bring yourself back. Another tool, is to count back from 5,4,3,2,1 and bounce off into a positive thought, it can be helpful to carry a list of positive thoughts/things going on in your life - so you can grab the list and complete the activity.

Breathing - as cliche as it sounds, you should never underestimate the benefit of knowing how to control your breathing through anxious breathing. As when anxiety hits it will end up taking over and controlling you. So you must focus on what you can control in that time which is your breathing. Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold it for 5 seconds and breathe out for seconds. This will allow you to hold control and calm your physiological state and your mind.

Additionally, depending on what you are worrying about you can put plans/goals in place in order to feel more secure in that area, i.e. if it is financial worry. So, if you are worried about money, is there an option to put a savings plan in and make some cut backs, which will allow to save and become more financially stable. 

I hope this is a start for you :) 

(Counsellor, Master, of, Mental, Health, Science)