Practice Self-care To Control The Anxious Mind

The anxious mind is chaos and disorder, it extinguishes our potential and puts us, often, in a state of weakness and utter anguish. To take control and reduce its impact, we can find that strategy that best suits our personal characteristics. However, there is one that always works: self-care, that is, taking care of ourselves, nurturing us and listening to ourselves as we deserve.

Being captive to a state of mind in which only worries dwell is exhausting. But the contradictory thing about this condition is that the more exhausted we are, the more resources and energy our brain has consumed, the more it will cost us to rest. Because the dream does not always understand exhaustion, it comes when there is internal calm, when there is silence in the thoughts.

It is not easy to live with anxiety as a partner. And yet we do. Moreover, as the data on the incidence of these psychological realities show us, although we are facing a type of treatable disorder, only 35% of the people who suffer from it come to ask for specialized help.

There are people who permanently cohabit with an anxious mind. In this way, they lose their quality of life, turn off their present potential, fill their future with anguish and even put their health at risk. So let’s see what that strategy that we should all apply on a daily basis consists of.

Self-care is not complacency, it is commitment to yourself

Self-care in a demanding world, full of uncertainties and that demands so much from us, is essential. However, it should be noted that this term is very often confused with other concepts. It was in the 1980s that mental health professionals first spoke to us about the importance of leading healthy lifestyles to reduce the impact of stress and anxiety.

Now, at this time the advertising industry did not hesitate to endorse that term. So much so that a wide range of products were launched under the self-care label . In this way, and for a long time, they were associated with this idea from bath salts, creams, shampoos, to food products intended (supposedly) to make us feel good.

Therefore, from the psychological field it is necessary that we promote the foundations of proper self-care. One whose strategies are precisely (and scientifically) based on what this concept is really looking for.

What really is self-care?

• Self-care is much more than pampering or indulging yourself. It is putting into practice behaviors that help us reduce discomfort, contradiction, fear, stress …
• Self-care is calm. It is to achieve an adequate internal balance where you can recharge your energies, not lose them.

• Also, to reduce and control the anxious mind, you must apply a daily self-care plan. By this we mean something very simple, but not everyone gets to comply. Well-being, caring for oneself requires a plan and a series of activities and processes that we must carry out every day. It is not worth starting some routines today and forgetting them next week. Well-being requires commitment.

What’s more, as explained to us in a study carried out at Queen’s Kingston University, Canada, self-care is a set of activities in which one engages throughout life every day. Doing so creates changes and helps us prevent multiple diseases.

Anxious mind: 5 keys to self-care to control it

Pessimism, excessive worry, feeling of lack of control, psychological exhaustion … The anatomy of the anxious mind may differ in some respects from one person to another, but on average, it is characterized by these very common factors.

Thus, before resorting to drugs, before even telling ourselves that ‘we are like that and we have no remedy’, it is worth pausing for a moment on these strategies.

The keys derived from the practice of daily self-care can help us. Let us therefore reflect on them.

Your safe space to calm the anxious mind

A safe space is a place, corner, bench, space under a tree or sofa in front of a window that generates calm. It is a comfort zone to go to, at least twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes. During that time, we will connect with ourselves to ask ourselves how we are doing.

This safe space will allow us to enjoy a moment of solitude in which to generate a positive and kind internal dialogue with ourselves. We will delve into the concerns to convince ourselves that everything is going to be fine. We will alleviate anguish and most importantly; we will rationalize fears.

Schedule happy moments

Happiness is well-being and satisfaction. It is to be well with oneself without anything on, without missing anything. To calm the anxious mind, we must therefore ‘program’ some activity that generates these sensations throughout the day. It is essential that in each of our days we can enjoy that hour or two where we can distract ourselves, rest, positively encourage the brain.

It is enough, simply, to do something that we like, that is in tune with our passions and personality (go for a walk, take a course, listen to music, meet friends, etc).

My channels for relief 

Anxiety also needs some outlet channel to release all those accumulated energies and tensions. In this way, it is ideal that we resort to practices such as yoga, mindfulness, some sport that we like and even why not, some artistic discipline.

Invest in health

Self-care is also health, but we must be clear again on one aspect: we must firmly commit ourselves to it. In this way, aspects as basic as taking care of what we eat, how we eat and what habits we follow, will undoubtedly make our well-being worse or better. You have to follow a plan and stick to it.

Health is also prevention, so let us try to attend and listen to our body and mind. So let’s not leave that physical annoyance or that concern for tomorrow, let’s give it an answer today or go to a professional. What is left out can get worse. So let’s be aware of it, let’s remember that living with an anxious mind is not living, it is limiting ourselves to exist in survival mode.