+
Health

Surprise, it's anxiety. Here are 5 things that can help rein in anxiety throughout the day.

Anxiety pops up at the most inopportune times.

anxiety; anxiety help

Five things that can help rein in anxiety.

Having anxiety is fun and by fun I mean extremely inconvenient and overwhelming. If you don't experience anxiety then the idea of something invisible seemingly coming out of nowhere to activate your fight or flight response may seem strange. But it's the reality for more than 40 million people, and while no two people's anxiety looks exactly the same, there are some things that can help sufferers get through the day when anxiety shows up.


Anxiety can happen at any time and in any place, like at home watching TV or when trying to fall asleep. But most of the time it rears its head when people are away from the comfort of home. If you suffer from anxiety you'll be familiar with the feeling of having to repeat to yourself "be cool," when you are, in fact, not cool at all. Anxiety is always playing side-splitting jokes on sufferers when they least expect it—heavy on the sarcasm in that sentence. So what are you supposed if you suffer from anxiety and it just won't go away and let you live in peace? Lucky for you, I've created a list of what works for me, as a fellow sufferer, and that hopefully will help you too.

Stress balls.

Chameleon stress ball from Amazon

1. Something to squeeze or pop helps nervous energy.

Sometimes anxiety may feel like pent-up energy, so having something physical to do to relieve that energy can be really helpful. I've found that stress balls can really help get that "I'm about to go screaming down the hallway to cry in the bathroom" feeling to calm the heck down a bit. It may not take the anxiety away completely, but it will give you something to do with that energy and it's something you can do under your desk or in a meeting.

Calming spray.

Calm Aromatherapy Mist from Amazon

2. Mmmm, something that smells good can help.

Smell is a powerful tool when it comes to a lot of things but there's something about it that can really help calm your anxiety, especially when coupled with other tools. The smell you pick can literally be anything that makes you feel safe or calm. Your laundry detergent, perfume or lemons. Whatever it is, put it on a piece of fabric and shove that bad boy in a Ziploc bag for when you need to open it up for a whiff of "calm the heck down." If you're not sure where to start for smells, you can try lavender and chamomile spray.

Adult coloring book from Amazon

3. A coloring book works wonders.

Coloring books cover multiple sensory areas at once. You get to feel the pages, smell the crayons or colored pencils, and you get to see the colors. It's the sensory jackpot for anxiety and you can do this activity at work in your office or at home. I prefer the kid coloring books that have the giant pages so I can pretend I'm 9 years old. I lay on the floor and don't care about the lines. I highly recommend entertaining your inner child.

"Let That Sh*t Go Journal" from Amazon

4. Grab a journal and get it out.

Well, well, well, if it isn't the thing that therapists keep bringing up in sessions about taking care of yourself. You know they wouldn't keep harping on it if it didn't actually work for a lot of people. This journal is just a fun sweary journal with prompts for people who may not be good at writing what's on their mind. Journaling may be really helpful, but it shouldn't be something that stresses you out. If you find yourself freaking out over getting the journal done, then throw it in the trash because it's not serving the purpose it's supposed to.

Collage of items for sensory box.

Collage images from Canva

5. Keep a sensory box at work and home.

I like to call this my "take 15 box." Sometimes we need a little break to get it together and a sensory box is something you can stash at the office or at home. Basically what you put in a sensory box are things that will appease all five senses, which some therapists use to bring you back to the moment. Instead of looking around for the items, they're all in one spot. In the box you'll want to have some sort of candy for taste, cloth sprayed with whatever fragrance you prefer in an airtight bag, something visual like bubbles, a stress ball or pop it, and I'd say a CD, but no one uses those anymore so have a relaxing playlist ready and extra set of headphones in case you misplace yours.

Whatever your anxiety looks like, hopefully some of the things on this list work for you. Anxiety can be stressful and those of us who suffer from it need all the tips we can get for overcoming those moments.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

Keep ReadingShow less
Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

Let's talk about what makes people read articles.

The adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," refers to the media's tendency to headline stories involving death or violence, but it can also be used to point to people's negativity bias. Simply put, people tend to pay more attention to negative news stories than positive ones.

A new study seems to reinforce this idea. And much to our surprise, it's centered on headlines used in Upworthy stories.

Using a public archive of Upworthy headlines and traffic data from 2012 to 2015, two separate teams of researchers analyzed whether people's click tendencies changed with negative or positive words in headlines. In those olden days of Upworthy, a handful of headlines for a single story were tested on the website to see which one would receive the most clicks. The research teams analyzed those results and found that negative words in headlines led to more people clicking on a story (2.3% more), and positive words in headlines led to fewer clicks (1.0% fewer). They also found a preference for headlines that express sadness over those that express joy, fear or anger.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

Keep ReadingShow less

Samantha Moriá Reynolds's advice on sick children.

It's cold and flu seasons, folks. During this time of year, we're all on a mission to avoid the demon viruses that threaten to invade our bodies and wage Armageddon on our immune systems.

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

A doctor specializing in child development shares 5 of her most surprising parenting tips

"How To Discipline Your Child So They Actually Learn" is one of her more popular videos.

via drkristynsommer / TikTok

Parenting is the most important job that most people will ever have in life. Your decisions as a parent will be some of the most important determining factors in whether your child becomes a happy and productive adult or not. It's a huge responsibility.

Parenting is a difficult and important undertaking, but many parents simply repeat the same strategies used by their parents. How often do we hear people rationalize their decisions by saying, "That's what my parents did and I came out ok."

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

RuPaul's Drag Race 'Footloose' parody gets high praise from Kevin Bacon himself

When the OG Ren McCormack approves, you know you're in for something good.

RuPaul's Drag Race/Youtube, Wikipedia

Loosey LaDuca performing as Heaven Bacon for "Wigloose: A Rusical"

Fans of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” are well acquainted with the “Rusical” segment, but in case this word seems like something out of Dr. Seuss, here’s a brief explainer: A Rusical is a challenge on the show where contestants put on a live parody drag musical. Since debuting in Season 6, the Rusical has become a beloved staple of the series, with some of the most popular titles being “Madonna: The Unauthorized Rusical,” “HERstory of the World” and “Moulin Ru: The Rusical.”

For Episode 12, the queens drew inspiration from the 1984 movie “Footloose” to tell a story about a small town that prohibits drag rather than dancing. The performance got a sweet seal of approval from the OG Ren McCormack himself.
Keep ReadingShow less