Nobody wants to hear it: exercise.

Walk up a steep hill for an hour or two a day. Rate your mood every day. Watch the results form clear as day.

I used a mood tracker for over 5 years. Every May I would hike a nearby trail every morning. Looking at 5 years of mood tracking data, I was always happier than average every May. It lasted into June. Was gone by July. Every year.

If you push your cardio to the point where all you can think about is your next breath, it forces you to meditate. It forces presence. It trains you to break the ruminative thought cycles.

So, again, no one wants to hear it. But exercise is by far the best solution to anxiety. Plenty of research backing this up.

I know the article says depression. It’s a meta analysis. Anxiety is also covered in some studies analysed here.

It’s called masking and it works as far as making other people think I’m not having an active anxiety attack.

Keeping my thoughts in the moment. Framing all my worries as minor inconveniences with contingency plans. For attacks, go ahead and do something inconvenient like sit in the shower with your clothes on.

Letting people finish talking and thinking about what to say after that. Not while they are still talking, or even in the shower the morning before.

Finding an effective anti depressant after 40 something years. It’s much easier to function without the feeling in my chest telling me everything is wrong.

certainly doomscrolling on instagram. gotta internalize all that hate, baby

Eating salads, and being socially and physically active.

Weed.

I mean in fairness we’re being a few different people and it’s going swimmingly, sooooooo.