Rating Anxiety Relief Tools on a Scale of 1-5

When I was in my junior year of high school, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. For years, I had always exhibited common behaviors of anxiety, such as excessive worrying, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, panic attacks, etc. However, when I received my diagnosis,  I put the pieces together that I’ve actually been living with anxiety for a very long time.

Receiving my diagnosis felt like completing the last piece of a really long puzzle. It all just clicked... I finally understood that these behaviors I had exhibited for so long had underlying meaning.   

As I began to find ways to cope with my anxiety, I experimented with different anxiety-relieving remedies in hopes of returning to a somewhat normal state of mind.   Below, I’ve ranked some of the top anxiety-relief remedies, and hopefully it will inspire you to find the remedy that works best for you! <3  

Therapy→ ★★★

Therapy can be a fantastic relief method for anxiety. Having a confidant that you can rant about all of your problems can be a great way to relieve tension and distress. However, when it comes to therapy, you get out of it what you put into it. That is, therapy will not be effective if you do not take the advice of your therapist. 

For me, I really enjoyed going to therapy because I loved to talk about my feelings and rant to someone who I knew would never spill my tea. But, oftentimes I didn’t find therapy to be as useful as it could have been, because I neglected to take her suggestions and apply them to my circumstances.  

Meditation→ ★★★★★

In one of my previous articles, I talked about how meditation was not really for me, but that was in terms of a self-care activity. In terms of anxiety relief, I think meditation is extremely beneficial.  

In high school, I often experienced panic attacks where I would lose all control over my body and my mind. One of the ways I would come down from being worked up from a panic attack was to play a guided meditation on my phone. Guided meditations were the perfect way for my spirit to rejoin my body and to overcome that intense feeling of panic.

Social Media Breaks→★★★★★

I highly recommend taking a break from social media every once in a while if you commonly suffer from anxiety or panic attacks.  Seeing my “friends’” posts on social media was one of the main sources of my anxiety, so it was necessary for me to delete Instagram and Snapchat for a couple days every once in a while.

Also, if you still have their locations on Find Friends, DELETE THEM. Seriously. Once I deleted those people’s locations off of Find Friends, I stopped obsessing over what they were doing or where they were going without me.

Coloring→ ★★★★

Coloring is a great way to focus your mind on something other than what is causing your anxiety. Whenever I color, it feels like I’m in a trance. I completely lose track of time and forget about my stresses.  The only reason I don’t give this one 5 stars is because my hands start to hurt after a while.

Medication→★★★ 

Ever since I was diagnosed with anxiety, I’ve been on medication. When I was first diagnosed, my doctor started me on a very high dose of medication, and I’ve been taking the same medication (in a much lower dose now) ever since.  Because I haven’t been off of my medication for 5 years now, I can’t really tell you how effective I think it is compared to when I’m not on medication. I do, however, believe that medication can be beneficial in stabilizing your mental health. Consult a medical professional to see if this could be an option for you! 

Fidget Toys→ ★★★★

I used to carry around either a stress ball or some sort of fidget toy all the time.  Whenever I would start feeling anxious in class or while roaming the halls of school, I would just grab one of my fidget toys. It effectively distracted my mind from the pent up anxiety.  Try not to get one that makes too much noise, or else your teachers will get mad at you.  

I hope this article will help you find the right anxiety-relief tool for you! Remember, you will overcome your current situation, one day at a time.  

Written by: Jordan Peterkofsky