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A GUIDE TO OVERCOMINGANXIETY
Beating
Your
Worries
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What is
Anxiety?
Anxiety is when people feel particularly worried, scaredand fearful. Everyone feels worried and nervous at times and this isnormal, but when these worrying thoughts start totakeover and you can't get it out of your mind it becomesanxiety. If you are feeling anxious you are not alone. Lots ofchildren and adults will have difficulties with anxiety. This booklet offers tips and ideas about managing youranxiety
What's the point of anxiety?Anxiety is a normal emotion and helps to keep us safe in dangerous and life threateningsituations. When you feel anxious your body releases a chemical called adrenaline tohelp your body fight or run away, this is called the fight or flight response. Adrenaline makes you very alert, aware and on edge. It makes your heart beat faster topump more blood to your muscles and makes you breathe more quickly and take shortbreaths to try and get more oxygen into your blood to help you run or fight. It can makeyou feel shaky and sweaty. If you were a caveman being chased by a sabre-tooth tiger your anxiety would help youthink and run faster, jump higher and see and hear better...it might just save your life. Once the danger has passed your adrenaline levels will go back down and you will feelnormal again. So anxiety is really important in keeping us safe when we need it. Thankfully real dangers very rarely occur nowadays. Anxiety still helps to keep us safebut it can also be very good at finding something to worry about even if there is nothingscary or dangerous around you.
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We have lots of different feelings and sometimes it is hard to put into words exactly howyou feel. Take a look at the feelings below, do any of these match how you are feeling now?Perhaps you feel more than one of these emotions at the moment. If none of thesematch, add your feelings to the list.
Your Feelings
Happy Worried Excited Hurt
Scared Bored Angry
Ill Chilled Frustrated Thoughtful
Confident
Silly Sad You can add other emotions here
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Anxiety likes to find things to worry about. Why not have a go at drawing what your anxiety looks like in the box below. It might be amonster, gremlin, blob or a cloud. You could colour your anxiety in, write on it, scribble or stick things on it. There is no right or wrong, it’s about understanding what anxiety looks like for you.
Draw Anxiety
Now we know what your anxiety looks like, you can tell your anxiety to be quiet, to stoptalking or to go away until you can get rid of it.
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Have a go at drawing the opposite to your anxiety, what does happiness and calm looklike for you? You could give them names and let your happiness and calm creature make youranxiety smaller.
Draw happiness and calm
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Thoughts
Aren't
Facts!
Thoughts are something that happens in your mind. Goodthoughts, funny thoughts, angry thoughts and worries areall things your mind creates. They aren’t real. You can’ttouch or smell your thoughts, they are just there insideyour mind. But we respond to them like they are concretefacts rather than just ideas. However real or scary they may seem, our thoughts aren’tfacts.
When we feel anxious we have more worrying thoughts and we may start to worry aboutlots of different things. Draw two circles like below and write down all your worries in them. If you can dosomething about the worry, like setting your alarm so you don’t wake up late orpractising for a test, then that worry goes in the middle circle. If you are worrying about something that you can’t do anything about, such as it rainingon your birthday or a friend not liking your favourite movie, then it goes in the outsidecircle.
Worries you can dosomething aboute.g. your hobbies oryour enthusiasm.
Worries you can't doanything about
e.g. the weather.
Let yourself stop worrying about everything in the outside circle. You can’t do anythingabout them so forget them.
Sort Your Worries
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The Worry Decision Tree
Work out what youcan do and how
For all the worries in the middle circle use the worry decision tree.
No
Let the worry go. Go and do something
else
Can I do anythingabout this right
now?
Yes No
Do it! Plan what you coulddo and when. Write it
down so you don'tforget
Let the worry goand do
something else
Is there anything I can doabout this right now?
Yes
Let the worry goand do
something else
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As we have found earlier, whenyou feel anxious your bodyreleases adrenaline which makesyou want to breathe in and outquickly. To calm your body breathe inthrough your nose for 3 secondsand feel your chest rising.Breathe out through your mouthfor 3 seconds. Keep doing this until yourbreathing becomes steady, yourheart slows down and you feelcalm.
There are lots of different ways to manage and reduce anxiety. One of the quickestways to do this is by distracting your mind. You can do this by choosing to focus on something else, it can be as simple as focusingon your breathing. Slowing your breathing down by taking long breaths in and out relaxes you.
Stretch your hand out so your fingers are spaced comfortably apart.Use the pointing finger of your other hand to trace up and downyour fingers.Breathe in as you trace up. Hold your breath as you trace over the tip of your finger.Breathe out as you trace down.Do this until you have traced all your fingers and thumb.
Here is a simple exercise that you can do anywhere, at any time.
Find a quiet place and get a fairly big book,but not one that will squish you! Lie down, open the book and put it facedown on your tummy. Take long steady breaths in and out,breathing in through your nose and outthrough your mouth. Focus your mind on the book, watch it riseand fall as you breathe and feel it on yourtummy. Your mind will try to think aboutother things and when it does this bring yourattention back to the book. Do this until youfeel relaxed.
Breathe
Try This
3 Seconds A Good Book
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Don't bottle yourfeelings up!
On each finger of the hand oppositewrite the name of someone who you feelyou can talk to about your worries. These five people can all give yousupport so don’t be afraid to talk to themand ask them for help especially whenyou are feeling worried and anxious.
Talking
Talking Hand
Talking
When you are feeling anxious andworried talking to someone can reallyhelp. Find someone on your helping handand talk to them or any grown-up thatyou trust. The person you talk to cancomfort you, give you ideas on how tocope with your worries, support you orhelp you put your thoughts intoperspective. If worries are seriously affecting yourlife it can be a good idea to speak toyour GP.
Talking is Important
4 things you can see3 things you can hear2 things you can touch and1 thing you can smell
When you feel anxiety building up inside itcan be really scary. Try to distract and calm your mind with asimple counting exercise. Look around you and find:
Counting things and using your senseskeeps your brain busy and distracted. Abusy brain means you have less time foranxious thoughts.
4, 3, 2, 1...
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Find somewhere comfortable and safe to sit outside, or you could sit inside near anopen window. Close your eyes and take long slow breaths. Listen to the noises around you. How many are there? What type of noises are they?Where are they coming from? Try and make a map of the noises with you in the middle. Move your focus to your sense of touch. Feel the ground or the chair beneath you, howdoes it feel? Can you feel the wind on your skin? Is the wind only catching parts of you? Isthe sun warming your face? Does your face feel the same temperature all over or areparts hotter or cooler than others? Is there anything else you notice? Now see if there is anything you can smell. How many different smells are there?When you are ready open your eyes. You can use all your senses or just pick one.
Mindfulness is about focusing on and payingattention to the present moment, your thoughts,feelings and what is happening. When you pay close attention to the present youdon’t worry about things that have happened orworry about things that might happen in thefuture. Our anxious thoughts like to look into thefuture and predict bad things happening,mindfulness keeps your brain busy with what’shappening now allowing it less time for anxiousthoughts. Here are a couple of mindful activities that youcould try.
When you are drawing or colouringthink about the things you canhear, feel, or smell. Listen to the sound of the pencil onthe paper, feel the texture of thepaper, the ridges of the pencil andthe difference between the pointand the side of the pencil. Smell the wood of the pencil, thewax of your crayon or the ink ofyour felt tips. Take your time andnotice all the small details.
Mindfulness
What is it? Mindful Colouring
Go Outside
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Give yourself a set time each day to think about your worries. During this timeyou can look at what is worrying you, what you can do about it and perhapstalk to someone about your worries or write them down and what you aregoing to do about them. Decide how long you will think about your worries andstick to it, the goal is to spend less time thinking about your worrying thoughtsand feeding the anxiety. If you have a worrying thought at any other time in the day, write it down sothat you can think about it during your ‘worry time’ then carry on with day.
Think of your favourite place or create a place in your imaginationthat you can think about whenever worrying thoughts start tobuild up. Fill the place with details. What’s there? What’s the weather like? Isthere anyone else there? Where do you eat and sleep? Keep visiting the ‘Happy Place’ in your mind and add to it orchange things, this way when you feel anxious it will help to relaxyou.
stop worries building up
Worry Time
Exercising is great for your body and mind. When you exercise your bodyreleases feel good chemicals called endorphins.
Your Happy Place
Exercise
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Avoid screens. Try not to look at a phone, tablet, computer or TV screenbefore you go to bed. Have a warm bath or shower before you go to bed. The warm water willrelax your muscles, and as you cool down your body’s processes slow downmaking you feel relaxed.Try a little light exercise before bed, you could stretch, go for a walk or tryyoga.If worries come into your head when you are trying to sleep write themdown. You can let them go until the morning or forget about themcompletely. Stick to the same bedtime during the week and weekends so your bodyknows when it’s time to sleep.
Getting the right amount of sleep is really important when beating anxiety,butit can be difficult to get to sleep if worrying thoughts are keeping you awake. Here are some tips you could try if you have problems getting to sleep:
sleep
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Relaxation Exercises
Sun Salutation
Breathe in and lift your handsabove your head.
Breathe out taking your arms out to theside and bend your body forward andtry to touch you toes with your fingers.
Breathe in, with your hands on the floortake your right foot back and then yourleft foot back so you are in plankposition.
Stand up tall.
Breathe out and lower your body to thefloor.
Breathe in and lift yourchest off the floor.
Breathe out and lift yourbottom into the air soyou're in a v-shape.
Breathe in bringing your right footforward.
Breathe out bringing your left footforward.
Breathe in as you stand up talllifting your arms over your head.
Breathe out bringing yourhands down together infront of you.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Progressive Muscle RelaxationThis exercise is good for lowering anxiety and helping you sleep. Although it has a fancyname it is basically just tightening or squeezing your muscles then relaxing them. Start at your feet and work your way up your body tightening the muscles and then relaxingthem an area at a time.
Feet - point your toesLower leg – pull your toes towards youUpper leg – squeeze your thigh musclesHand – make a fistArm – bring your hands towards yourshoulders to “make a muscle”Bum – pull in your bottom musclesStomach – suck your stomach in
Chest – take a deep breathNeck and shoulders – move yourshoulders up to touch your earsMouth – Open your mouth wideEyes – squeeze your eyelids tightlyshutForehead – Raise your eyebrows asfar as you can.
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Scribble the
anxiety away
Talk to someoneTell them how you are
feeling
Laugh
Facetime
a
friend
Jump AroundExercise is great for releasingfeel good chemicals in your
brain
Fight Your Worries
MeditateOr try yoga ortai chi - thereare lots ofvideos online
Watch the clouds
puzzles and games Distract your mindwith jigsaws, puzzlebooks and games
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Activities
Writing down your worries helps you tostop thinking about them so why notmake a box to throw all these worriesinto. Maybe it could look like a monsterwho gobbles all your worries up. You will need a box (or something thatyou can put your worries into), pens,decorations and glue. Decorate yourbox however you want, it could be amachine, a robot, a monster orwhatever you like. You could even makeone out of fabric. Let your imaginationgo wild!
A calm box will contain lots of differentthings to relax you when you are feelinganxious. You will need a box or a bagand nice things for your senses. Youcould include your favourite book,photos or something you like looking at,something you like to listen to andlavender scented items or another smellyou find relaxing. You should alsoinclude different textures to touch,these could be bubble wrap, stressballs, a teddy or fidget toys, whateverworks for you. If you are struggling to sleep perhapsyour family could fill the box up eachday with things to help you relax atbedtime.
You will need meadow flower seeds,compost, powdered clay (or clay soil ifyou have it), water and a mixing bowl. To make your seed bombs mix together1 cup of seeds with 5 cups of compostand 2-3 cups of clay powder or clay soil.Then slowly mix in the water with yourhands until everything sticks together.Roll the mixture into firm balls and leavethem in a sunny spot to dry. Once the balls are dry it’s time to throwthem at any bare parts of the gardenand wait to see what grows! You could make these seed bombs andthen throw them into the garden whenyou are feeling angry; get rid of yourfrustration and plant some beautifulflowers – it’s a win-win!
You will need a jar, glitter glue, glitterand water. Fill your jar about a quarter of the wayup with glitter glue (you can use a clearglue if you want). Then add a tablespoonof glitter to the jar. Fill the jar with warmwater until it is as close to the top asyou can get without it spilling. Seal thelid as tightly as possible, you can use ahot glue gun to line the lip of the jar ifyou wish. Shake the jar really well untilall the glue from the bottom mixes withthe glitter. Watch the glitter swirl arounduntil it gently settles at the bottomagain.
Worry Box Calm Box
Seed Bombs
Glitter Jar
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