relax: some things to do to stop the worry cycle and ease anxiety

Happy Monday, I hope everyone's good! This is a scheduled post as I'll be getting ready to meet my new colleague for lunch ahead of starting next week :) Another slightly different post from me today.

I'm a worrier. I always have been; as a child I was constantly on edge about being told off. As I've grown up I've got more confidence in myself but I've had to work hard at not allowing the worst scenarios to pop into my head, and when they do, not allowing them to spiral out of control. As I've been job hunting and having lots of interviews recently, I've been  panicking and overthinking what I'll say, what was said etc.

I commented on the lovely Alice Gibbs' post here with my tips of things to relax as she's having a bit of a rough time with worrying at the moment, and I thought I may as well do a proper post on it!

painting my nails

Obviously this isn't an option if I'm laid awake worrying about things, but if I'm having a bit of an off day, my favourite thing to do is follow my very long nail routine [posted here] whilst watching Come Dine With Me and drinking tea. Focusing on doing my nails just really helps me stop thinking about everything else going on, and it means that my nails look great even if I feel like everything else is falling apart.

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reading

Reading is hugely important to me; I try to read at least one book a week. One of the main reasons for this is it helps my anxiety so much; the prospect of putting myself into the characters' heads and making their problems my own really helps me put my own fears into more sensible terms in my head, if that makes any sense.

 I much prefer reading to films, TV etc. when I'm feeling weird because it takes all of your attention (or mine, at least) so there's less time to be panicking. And switching off from the outside world always helps; nothing is ever as bad when you look back at it. Laying in bed reading on my Kindle app with candles going in my room is my favourite pre-bed relaxation routine. 

You can follow me on Goodreads here

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tidying up

I generally detest cleaning, my room used to be such a mess when I was a kid, but I've had to set myself a little daily routine of putting things back. When I'm feeling antsy it really helps to do a proper clean, sort out my wardrobe, dust everything, declutter my drawers and so on. It's another case of not really giving yourself time to think about what's going on at that moment, which always helps break the worry cycle.
I also find that even when I think my room is really tidy there's still something that can be done, and it's so much nicer to be in an organised space, especially when you're panicking.

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cooking

Now I know not everyone will agree with me but I find cooking really relaxing, again I think it's the fact that you have to focus on doing something so can't get all caught up in your own thoughts. One of my favourite things to cook is risotto; it's quite labour intensive and by the time it's cooked I've had enough time to think logically about whatever's on my mind, rather than jumping to the worst case scenario constantly.

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a bath

If I could live in the bath, I would. I just love laying in the bath and reading a book, and it really helps me relax before bed. Baths using Lush products are my favourite, they're magical. I also like to set up my laptop so I can watch Netflix in the bath. Not hugely relaxing if my dad starts hammering on the door, though.

What do you do to relax?

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