Lean on Your Support System When You're Anxious

If there is one thing I have learned since realizing that I struggle with chronic anxiety, it's the importance of a support system to lean on for help. While you can use many other coping strategies to manage anxiety symptoms, it is still essential to have others in your corner for support.

Why It's Important to Have a Support System When You Deal with Anxiety

Many coping strategies can help you deal with anxiety. Some of these coping strategies include exercising, eating a healthy diet, identifying triggers, and journaling. I have found that journaling as a coping strategy is similar to confiding in someone. Writing in a journal is a helpful way to release anxious feelings and put them into perspective. Speaking with someone you trust can have a similar effect.

Talking to a trusted person about your anxiety can help you articulate your thoughts or emotions. In my own experience, talking to someone I trust helps me clarify what I think and put into perspective what I feel. As I describe my thoughts and feelings, I can see what I have control over and what I don't. It also helps me problem-solve, shift my thinking, or adjust my actions to overcome whatever the situation is. Sometimes, if I feel anxious but don't know why, talking about it helps me identify the source.

Speaking with someone I trust also helps me to feel as though I am not alone. Anxiety can be a lonely place, so I often feel isolated in my experience and that others may not understand. However, I find that talking to someone else can affirm that I am not alone in those feelings.

Having a support system allows you to lean on other people when you feel anxious. Reach out for help and support, but it's important to talk to someone you trust. That person—or people—should be a trusted friend, significant other, or mental health professional.

Support should be non-judgmental and compassionate. Talking to someone who cares and will not pass judgment can help you feel safe to speak honestly about your emotions, thoughts, or experiences. For instance, although I have other trusted relationships, my significant other is the main person I choose to lean on.

Turning to my support system when I feel anxious doesn't necessarily solve my current situation, but it helps me take positive steps in the right direction. Please share in the comment section how leaning on your own anxiety support system is helpful for you.