Tristan is a gamer and a friend. He likes all types of music besides country and he doesn’t like to speak out as much. “Accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative” –Hayley Williams

Do you get anxious? Are you afraid of being judged? Have you found yourself zoning out from casual conversation? If you are experiencing one, or all of these symptoms, you may have Anxiety. Anxiety is a serious issue when it comes to family get-together’s and holidays. You find yourself breathing heavily looking around the room for escape, going into the bathroom for not minutes-but hours, escaping to the confines of your room. It’s something you just can’t get over. Here are some tips and information for people who have anxiety.

Here’s a scenario: you enter the house where your family is getting ready for the holidays. There’s a lot of people around; your aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents. Then there’s a lot of people you don’t know in your family apart from the members you are around often. You feel yourself immediately exhausted and ready to leave, and you can’t breathe and feel trapped. As said from the article, Home for the Holidays: Tips for dealing with stress, by Griffin, R. Morgan, “Some relatives don’t really believe you’re depressed,” says Gloria Pope, director of advocacy and public policy at the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance in Chicago. “They think you’re just lazy, or that it’s all in your head. It can be really hurtful.” There’s no way out of it. These situations suck for people with anxiety. Stated from the article, Home for the Holidays: Tips for dealing with stress, by Griffin, R. Morgan, “During the holidays, a lot of childhood memories come back,” says Duckworth, who is also an assistant professor at Harvard University Medical School. “You may find yourself dwelling on what was inadequate about your childhood and what was missing.” To prevent yourself from getting quiet and awkward, follow these steps:

1. Think about positive things; positive things make you feel good and confident. For example
2. Breathe, breathing calms you down from further anxiety. Take a seat in a calm relaxed area, adjust yourself so you are comfortable and just inhale then exhale.
3. Take a rest, sit down and chill. Doing this will calm you even further reducing your chance of an anxiety attack. Quoted from the article, How to Cure Anxiety — One Workaholic’s Story, Six Techniques That Work, by Tim Ferriss, “I’d set an alarm on my phone for 20 minutes, lie on my back, and close my eyes. I never tried to fall asleep; I just relaxed and focused on breathing in and out. Even if I didn’t fall asleep (10-20% of the time), I always felt refreshed and calm when my alarm went off.”
4. Find a quiet area. Finding a quiet area is peaceful, crowds can inhibit your anxiety further. Finding your happy place, the outdoors, your room, any area that is quiet and void of crowds.

These are some tips as to sedate your anxiety. The holidays can be very harsh for people with social anxiety. I know because I have anxiety myself. How I cope with it is I’m always positive, I hang out with certain groups of family, and I just breathe. All of these have helped me survive the holidays. Now, these remedies may not help you. You may find your own ways to cope.

Bibliography
Ferriss, Tim. Fourhourworkweek. 2016. Article. 7 December 2016.
Griffin, R. Morgan. WebMD . 2016. Article. 5 December 2016

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