How can I overcome anxiety if I can't talk to a therapist or my own doctor?

It is tough but here are some techniques I have used in the struggle: In my mental vocabulary, I try replacing and re framing the term "anxious" with "excited". I am "excited" about this date. I am "excited" to get to work on time. Meditation is another technique I use. There are guided meditations on this site and youtube. I also try to think of someone I love more than I hate the fear, and how facing the situation making me anxious is important to both of us. It is difficult to overcome without professional help, but nothing is impossible.

It's important to have structure in your life. I find it really helps to have a routine and keep myself busy, try finding a hobby and allow it to distract you. It's also very important to challenge your thoughts, for example, you could keep a anxiety journal, with all your thoughts and feelings and try and get to the root of why you feel that way, and also acknowledge that it isn't rational. It can be very hard without help but remember you can do it! Just try and challenge everything and realise that what you feel is valid but isn't rational.

Try to breathe and think of other ways to cope. You can write down your problem or someone around you. Remember that it isn't the end of the world and you should take things slow. Even though things may seem like baby steps, they are steps towards a better direction. If you talk to others who have dealt with anxiety, you can feel better and your situation and know that you can get through this. I recommend learning breathing exercises you can do in public and when your at home you can meditate. In school, bringing a journal to draw/write things in can help.

I talk to my friends. I write it out, listen to music. Put my fairy lights on, light some candles and incense. I make my space happy and comforting. I say no to things I can and I ask for support when I need it. I spend time creating an environment that helps me to feel less anxious, that means letting people in and doing things that don't necessarily 'fix' my anxiety but they do make a difference in the moment. I may still be anxious but I have created a positive space. Then I make time to talk to a professional, doctor or counselor.

There are lots of ways to overcome anxiety. Talking to someone can help but not everyone finds it helpful. Here are some suggestions that may help manage your anxiety. Be kind to yourself - self care helps with so many things, think about things you enjoy and try to do those as often as you can manage. Make a list of what you enjoy and try different ones. Accept that you are anxious - try to accept that you are scared, anxiety is fear, try to pinpoint what it is that is making you feel scared, you might want to try writing things down or brainstorming ideas if you cannot work out what it is. Knowing the cause will help to overcome it. Practice relaxing - there are lots of ideas for this, mediation, exercise such as yoga, watching ASMR on youtube, etc. Finding something that help calm you down can help manage your anxiety when you are feeling it.

In my experience it generally helps to ask yourself the questions “Why am I anxious? What about is is making me anxious? Is it worth being anxious over? Why?” Just placing names and words to what’s making you feel anxious in and of itself helps. If the opportunity exists to talk to someone like a friend, family member, or partner I would suggest taking it. Talking to someone even if they don’t have a degree can still help very much. Talk them through what is making you feel this way and why it’s important. Ask him if they’ve ever felt this way before and how they got through it if they did. If the opportunity isn’t available to talk to someone talking yourself through what made you anxious in the first place and figuring out why it made you anxious help a great deal. After figuring out what and why think hard about how to change the situation causing the anxiety and if it’s a situation outside your control think hard about how to cope with it healthily.

Anonymous conversations especially like the ones on 7 cups would be a great way to have others help your feelings of anxiety while helping you feel more safe and less alone. From my personal experience, feeling anxious makes you feel like no one should be trusted and everything that you are feeling should be kept to yourself. However, not reaching out will impede you from getting the help you need. Anonymous conversations can help you with both of those problems, because you are able to safely reach out without breaching your personal identity or feeling like you've gone too far out of your box.

Consider using resources such as this! There are lots of online free chatrooms for you to vent about issues that could be causing the anxiety. Also consider looking at relaxation techniques to minimise the negative effects of generalised anxiety or anxiety attacks. Personally, I think grounding techniques are the most useful in preventing anxiety attacks or combatting them. Overall, a therapist or doctor could only give you the tools you need to overcome your anxiety- you are the one who has the power to overcome it. You are strong enough, all you may need is the right advice, the right tools, and the right mindset :)

First step is understanding your own feelings. If you dont understand why you feel the way you do then it is hard to put it across to others. Sometimes I couldn't explain my anxiety to my doctor or therapist because I would freeze, I'd talk about anything that meant I avoided the problem at hand. This is perfectly normal. First step is always understanding what is making you anxious. Second step is separating those issues you can do something about from those you can't. It's about learning to let go of what you can't change and working on what you can

The first thing I do if I have anxious feelings is to tell myself to remember that this uncomfortable feeling will pass! It might not be right away but by telling myself that it will pass I start to become more calm. You will never overcome anxiety, but that's ok because anxiety is normal at some levels because it often keeps us safe, but uncontrolled anxiety is very uncomfortable and if you can't talk to a therapist right away or your doctor, take a break...if you have a pet, sit with you pet, animals can be very therapeutic and often calming, it often works for me.