Anxiety is a mental illness that affects as many as one in every 5 Americans. With the pandemic, so many of us have been struggling with anxiety, bloggers especially. Today I will be sharing 5 simple ways bloggers can fight anxiety. Even if you are not a blogger, I am sure you will find this blog post helpful too.
This post topic was recommended by published Author, Bailey Gee. Author of The Many Personalities of Me on Amazon’s best sellers list. You can also support and read more of her poetry work here.
What causes anxiety?
Anxiety is caused by sudden changes and feelings of uncertainty within your life. As a result of the 2020 pandemic so many people were left feeling mentally and physically exhausted.
Struggling to maintain and keep up with all the sudden changes was a personal challenge for me. It really prompted me to get a little bit more focused and create a blogging schedule.
Without a schedule it’s so easy to lose track of days and fall behind in important tasks. Lack of productivity and unfinished tasks is a stressor for me that causes me anxiety. As a blogger I have daily tasks that must be completed in order for me to stay on target with my goals.
Identifying Anxiety Stressors
Do you know what stressors cause anxiety in your life?
Anxiety stressors can be very different for every person. The first step in fighting anxiety is to identify what stressors in your life spike your anxiety.
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Too often it’s easy for us to recognize the symptoms of stress and not often enough are we able to identify the triggers and stressors that initiate the stress.
Symptoms of Anxiety:
- tense
- restless
- irritability
- racing heart beat
- sweats
- headaches fatigue
- upset stomach
Anxiety affects every person and aspect of their life very different. And it can really impact your ability to function within your daily life.
As a blogger anxiety can really take a toll on your productivity. And it’s super crucial to figure out how anxiety impacts you personally and learn ways to be able to cope and fight anxiety.
Let’s jump right in to this weeks topic… but first, don’t forget to subscribe!
5 Simple Ways Bloggers Can Fight Anxiety
Bloggers can fight anxiety by simply redirecting your attention away from stress and anxiety.
Instead of focusing on the negative, find something positive to focus on. Focus on learning a new hobby, creating a new routine, exercising, or self-care in general.
Here are 5 Simple ways bloggers can fight anxiety:
1. Create and maintain a routine
In order to fight and cope with anxiety you must create and maintain a routine. Working from home as a blogger can be overwhelming, and it’s so easy to get off track. You are your own boss. Which means you must hold yourself accountable. There is no one to tell you what to do or when to do it.
This is where creating and maintaining a routine comes in to play. Creating and maintaining a routine will help you improve your mindset, by being and feeling more productive.
It also will help you establish boundaries between your home and work life which is very important. Setting boundaries between your home and work life is one of the more challenging parts of blogging.
Working from home requires boundaries.
Just because you are in the comforts of your own home you still should make it routine to wake up, and get dressed as if you were leaving the house.
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Tips to create and maintain a routine:
- keep a set work schedule
- set a time to wake up and a time to go to bed
- eat a healthy and balanced breakfast
- take a lunch break
- create a office space strictly for working
- dress casual as if you were going into the office (ditch the pajamas and sweatpants)
The most important part of creating and maintaining a routine is consistency. Remain consistent in your weekly schedule. If it makes it easier for you, write out a weekly schedule and post it somewhere you can see it daily. Stick to this schedule, and it will be sure to keep you on track with productivity.
2. Make time for self-care
When I say make time for self-care, I mean it! Even if it requires you to schedule into your daily or weekly schedule. Make time for it!
Self-care is anything that you enjoy. Preferably something that you can look forward to as you unwind for the day. For me I like to enjoy a cup of tea, or sit outside and read a good book.
Whatever it is that you may enjoy the most- do it! Take a moment for yourself each day.
Making time for self-care can also be taking a break throughout your day to practice mediating.
3. Stay Active
Exercise is a great way to fight anxiety and boost your mood.
I prefer to practice Yoga at home and I also enjoy taking daily walks.
Health professionals recommend exercising at least 15-30 minutes a day.
Staying active can be any type of exercise that you enjoy. Just keep moving. By exercising your body will release endorphins which can make your body feel good.
Once I get my heart pumping I feel an immediate reduction in my stress levels. Another benefit from staying active is that, it really gets your mind off anything negative.
4. Get adequate sleep
I say get adequate sleep because I am a believer that no everyone needs 8+ hours of sleep.
Has anyone ever gotten too much sleep?
I’ve had nights where I only gotten about 5 hours of sleep and I woke up feeling well rested. In contrast, there has been nights when I have gotten more than 8 hours of sleep and woke up feeling absolutely drained and restless.
Listen to your body. There is no need to stress about whether you are or are not getting 8 hours of sleep. Worrying about this can cause anxiety and we are trying to fight anxiety here.
Most people who suffer with anxiety, also experience insomnia and find it challenging to fall asleep. If this sounds like you try to prepare yourself for bed by cutting back your screen time, try reading a book, or listen to some relaxing music to get you in the mood for bed. Whatever you decide to try, don’t force and don’t stress.
5. Keep a set eating schedule
Experiencing bouts of anxiety can cause or lead to stress eating. Stress eating can in fact be over eating or under eating. The best way to avoid this is to keep a set eating schedule.
Being consistent in the time you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner will help you maintain a balanced diet and will help to prevent you from over or under eating.
Applying these 5 simple tips can really help you fight anxiety as you continue to cope with the ongoing pandemic. I hope that this post has helped you in one way or another by helping you understand what anxiety is and guiding you to identify the possible stressors in your life.
If you found this post helpful, please share it with someone that you personally know that can benefit.
Awareness is key!
Don’t be afraid to seek treatment if you find self-copying to be a challenge or not effective. Seeking help is part of the healing process.
Don’t forget
Remember, to stay present. Don’t worry yesterday, as yesterday is in the past. Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have it’s own troubles. Stay in the moment and take it one second and day at a time.
And most importantly, be kind to yourself and others.