Disclaimer: I am not a mental health professional. I just have been living with anxious thoughts for a good while (6 months to a year, depending on what you count as “anxious enough”) and have tried various things to deal with it. (Sometimes the anxiety is so bad that I literally can’t focus on anything and my throat starts hurting because of how tight it is. Actually, it’s more like oftentimes. It was so bad last summer that I gained the ability to empathize with people with twisted mental states who desperately wished to end it all.) I’m writing all of this with a racing heart (not because of the content, trust), so I’m not yet out of the woods just yet.

Here’s some stuff that has worked to calm my racing, anxious mind. Maybe it’ll work for you too.

• Breathe
• Throw yourself into something that gets you into the flow state. You know it’s working if, when you stop, you find that the “anxiety switch” is suddenly flipped back on. The difference is night and day. If you know you know.
  • Practice an instrument. It does help if you already know how to play an instrument, but I’ve found that playing violin works nearly 100% of the time at quieting my mind and dissipating my thoughts. (I also have like 8 years of violin experience, so it might not be applicable to you)
  • Coding also does work, but you really need to be into it. (and unlike practicing an instrument, all the deliberate thinking you have to do to get into the flow state leads to many, many opportunities for anxious thoughts to distract you)
  • Video editing (kind of a waste of time, at least for me, but this works like a charm as well.)
  • Music production (same gist, although I’m not particularly good at it so the conscious thought to flow state ratio is way too high.)
  • I’m sure other creative skills like writing and singing will also work, as long as you’re sufficiently experienced in it to begin with.
• Listen to music that makes you forget who you are.
• Talk to people! (whom you’re comfortable talking to). Or even strangers, if that’s the stuff you like to do.
• Touch grass! Preferably not alone so you don’t stew in your own thoughts for too long.
• Immerse yourself in other people’s projects, problems (not mental, lest you exacerbate your own problems), and general life developments.
• Sleep
• Tell yourself that your anxiety is baseless, fake, and does not have any standing in current reality.
  • Yes, it’s gaslighting to an extent. But what got you these anxious thoughts in the first place? Likely repetitive (maybe subconscious) gaslighting.
• Tell yourself the feeling will go away, probably sooner than you think. It’s easy to get tunnel vision when you’re overcome with sudden anxious thoughts and feelings. Learn that it’ll pass, and then reflect on the fact that it passed.
• Tell yourself that you’re better than your anxiety. And you are. You’re the one responsible for generating the existing anxiety, so you can stop it. :)
• Take some chinese medicine. You’ll probably have to be chinese tho. Granted, I’m not sure how much of its effects is placebo, given how mild a lot of it is. (It’s like orange peels, tree branches, and herbs.)

What hasn’t worked for me

• Exercise, specifically solo activities like running. Perhaps group activities do help, but I actively dislike participating in those.
• Tell yourself it’s okay, without giving any sort of explanation as to why. Things can (and will) be not okay, but as long as you learn to face whatever anxious thoughts or feelings come your way, you’re already almost there.
• Dismiss the thought, quickly. (ex. “It’s not me, it’s OCD”). idk. too shallow? At least it rhymes.

What might work, but I’m still on the fence about trying

• Therapy/seeing a psychiatrist for $400/hr. What sane person goes to an absolute stranger and tells them all about their personal struggles? I can’t even do this with most of my friends. (This blog doesn’t count, since no one reads it). I keep actively considering it, only to not do it. I’m shy broooo >_<