If you suffer from anxiety, you know how any mundane moment can shift to a crisis when dread and panic start to set in. It’s important to develop skills that help ease the symptoms of these attacks, but it can be difficult to apply them in the moment. Get ahead of your next episode by having these three simple calming techniques at the ready, all of which Xanax still absolutely blows out of the water.
Deep breathing
Next time you feel that panic creeping in, take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it for three seconds, then exhale slowly through your nose. This technique will increase your brain’s oxygen supply and promote calmness, which, relative to fully spinning out is pretty good but relative to Xanax is seriously nothing. For real, that fast-acting benzodiazepine will zap your noggin straight to Calm Town. But no, try the “breathing” thing, that’s great.
Employ your five senses
A great way to both ground yourself in your body and slow down racing thoughts is to do a sensory inventory of your immediate surroundings. List five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can feel, two you can smell, and one you can taste. By the time you get through this exercise, you’ll be saying, “Xanax? Who needs it?” but you’ll only be saying that if you don’t have any because you know damn well it would work way better than this shit. I mean, it’s Xanax. Grow up.
Practice visualization
The phrase “go to your happy place” may sound silly to you, but visualizing a relaxing environment can considerably reduce anxiety. Close your eyes and envision a space of comfort and calm such as the woods in fall, a breezy beach, or a bathroom with Xanax in the medicine cabinet. We may not be able to teleport yet, but you can switch the scenery of your mind’s eye in an instant, almost like how Xanny will start relieving your anxiety in an instant. That’s almost better than teleportation. Actually, it’s better than all these ideas. Sorry calming techniques, you’re not shit and you know it.
So try out these methods to still your overwhelming anxiety symptoms. The human brain and body’s ability to treat itself is truly remarkable but nowhere near as remarkable as a powerful drug designed for that very purpose. To medication!
