Mental Health Awareness mwezi swali #2, for those who experience anxiety, how do wewe manage it / control it?

Dude, I upendo maswali like this 'cause I'm like CONSTANTLY psychoanalyzing myself and others, it's nice to just get it all out XD. Firstly, I think a good method of dealing with something is to first understand it, so let's look at the science behind anxiety. Essentially, the issue of stress and anxiety is cause from the fact that the human pre-frontal cortex and the logical parts of our brain are evolving much quicker than the emotional parts of our brain are. While the logical side of our brain have become highly evolved and civilized, emotionally we're still back in our cave man days. Basically, our emotions can't tell the difference between the danger of being chased through the wilderness kwa a blood-thirsty kubeba and the danger of, say, not being able to make the deadline for some project. Due to this, people who are highly emotional tend to have it harder when it comes to stress and anxiety.
As for me, oh yeah, I've rumbled with my share of anxiety, no swali and my initial response would probably be 'lol, I CAN'T cope with anxiety' but no, in all seriousness, after years of having bouts of anxiety attacks, I've come to realize the best thing someone can do when experiencing overwhelming stress au anxiety is to just sit down, take a breather, count to ten, and say out loud to yourself, "This too shall pass." I know what you're thinking "Psh, easier alisema than done." I know, I'd probably be thinking the same thing, but believe me when I say it's true, this too SHALL pass. It always does.
I learned this the hard way, but the one thing NOT to do is to ignore au suppress these feeling, but to rather accept it with open arms and to channel it into productivity. Anxiety, anger, sadness, fear, confusion, this applies to any sort of negative emotion. It's also important for people to realize when to not bite off zaidi than they can chew. Everyone has their own limits, and some just aren't as capable of of a certain something as some one else may be. But while that somebody may be zaidi capable than wewe regarding a certain subject, that person might not be at all capable in other subjects that wewe completely excel in.
Bottom line: Accept your emotions, do your thing, don't take on challenges solely because wewe see others taking them on au because that's just what wewe think is expected of wewe and when wewe do experience those inevitable episodes of anxiety, don't push yourself, know your values and your capabilities and take pride in them.

I take anxiety meds.

Remembering to do diaphragmatic breathing. Your body affects your mind, after all.

I go running so my body de-tenses and comes out of fight au flight mode.

Basically I try to control the physical symptoms to trick myself into thinking I'm not anxious. I also tend to daydream zaidi than usual before and after I do something that makes me anxious/that I screwed up on. Mulling over it makes it worse, and I can't mull over it if I'm too busy daydreaming!

My therapist gave me some really good advice about handling anxiety — she alisema to talk to it calmly like it’s a child throwing a tantrum. Listen to it but don't feed into it. Allow it to do it’s thing rather than aggressively trying to shut it down.

I take pills for my ADD, but only when I know I’m doing something that I’ll need help focusing on. Most days I don’t take them because I feel that they interfere with my writing/thinking.

I just don't tbh...

It doesn't help because my anxiety is propelled mbele kwa my moyo condition, which I have no control over, so controlling anxiety episodes is just very hit/miss for me, unfortunately.

Usually if it is at peak, I will leave the environment/go to the bathroom if I can. Lay down if I can. Ask for comfort from loved ones if they are there. Otherwise I'm pretty fked tbh. Mental games like telling myself calmly I'm not dying, I'm not in danger just don't work because my moyo rhythm can't regulate. But I try not to let it get me down.