Activity is the Antidote to Anxiety

If you’re feeling a little extra anxiety these days, that’s completely understandable.

Anxiety is, among other things, worry about future events, about which we feel we have no control.

And you may notice that accompanying that feeling is a sort of nervous energy, this extra energy we have, that we don’t know what to do with. That energy, though, is available to you to use for yourself anytime you want.

And as a professor of my Graduate school used to say,” Activity is the antidote to anxiety.”

So how do you use it?

You might think in terms of three categories of activities that you can do that use that energy to benefit you.

The first category could be things you could do in a few minutes like diaphragmatic breathing or some stretching, that right away helps use that energy in a positive way.

The second category might be things you can do in 10 to 15 minutes, which might be a short walk, a short jog, a brief yoga exercise or something else that uses that energy.

And the third category you might think of as 30 minutes or more like a bike ride, a longer walk or a full exercise routine to help use that energy.

If you have any of that energy left over, you can do something else that’s productive for you or just let that go out into the universe, other people could probably use it.

Question: What activities work best for you to alleviate your anxiety?