8 Easy Steps You Can Start Today to Manage Anxiety and Panic

No kidding, talking to yourself is actually a powerful anxiety tool. When your thoughts start racing, ask (out loud works best):

• Can I do anything about this right now?
• Do I have control over this?
• What’s one thing I can do in this moment?

If you cannot control it NOW or change it NOW, why are you worrying over it now? Make the executive decision to table it. Anxiety loves urgency but you don’t have to play along.

Write down the worries you’ve decided to revisit later. You’ll be shocked how many resolve themselves before you ever return to them. This reduces mental clutter and helps your brain stop looping.

Not the whole solution, just the first step.

Examples:

• “Open the email.”
• “Put the bill on the counter.”
• “Set a 5‑minute timer.”

Small steps interrupt anxiety’s all‑or‑nothing thinking. Even opening the email means you took the power back.

I know, it sounds wild, but hear me out. Panic has power because we fight it. When we stop fighting, it loses its grip. Tell yourself (out loud is great):

“Okay panic, let’s get this over with. Bring it on.”

Panic always passes. You’re taking the power back.

Anxiety lives in the future (“what if…”) and depression lives in the past (“I wish I had…”).

The present sounds like: “I can…”

Make a list of 3 things to do when your mind races and use it when you feel yourself drifting into the future or past.

Your brain believes what you repeat, even if you don’t believe it yet. (We have all heard the saying, “fake it til you make it” but fun fact, this is in fact, very real. The brain 100% believes what we tell it.)

Choose a simple, calming phrase like:

• “I can get through this.”
• “I’m safe right now.”
• “This will pass.”

Say it out loud when anxiety starts taking over.

Smell is directly connected to the emotional centers of the brain. Carry something with a strong, pleasant scent - lavender, orange oil, peppermint, lotion, perfume, a cinnamon stick.

Deep smell + your mantra = a powerful grounding combo to stop anxiety in its tracks.

Practice this when you’re calm so your brain learns the association.

When your senses are busy, the anxiety center of your brain quiets down. Try the 5‑4‑3‑2‑1 grounding technique:

• 5 things you see: What are they? What color? Are they alive?
• 4 things you hear: What is it? A car horn? How far away?
• 3 things you can touch: Is it soft? Scratchy?
• 2 things you smell: Car exhaust? A candle? Is it delicious or you wish you skipped this?
• 1 thing you can taste: Let’s hope it is chewing gum. If not, find something to taste. Let that be the mind’s distraction and go get some ice cream!

If all 5 feels like too much, pick just one sense and focus on it.

• Drink cold water (stimulates the vagus nerve)
• Put your hands on your belly and breathe so your stomach rises
• Use a belly breathing
• Slowly breath in through your nose for a count of 4 (stomach, not chest should rise)
• Hold that breath for a count of 7
• Exhale all the way for a count of 8
• Give the panic 10 minutes of permission while you focus on breathing.

You’re interrupting the fear cycle and giving your brain a new script.

When you’re calm, write out:

• your trigger
• your worst‑case scenario
• whether it’s realistic
• what you can control
• your first step

Anxious brains catastrophize. Putting it on paper brings logic back online.

If your worst case scenario looks something like this: “I failed a test so undoubtedly I will fail out of school, be disowned, be homeless, and get struck by lightning while sleeping under a bridge”, anxiety might be messing with you. We get it, but we also know your power is in the plan and it’s important to keep the script realistic, so you can actually plan for it. While this may be a worst case scenario, is it realistically the worst case scenario after failing a test?

Anxiety is your brain’s alarm system, it’s trying to protect you. When you know your triggers, you can prepare for them instead of being blindsided. Use your grounding tools, your mantra, your scent, and your self‑talk to stay in control.

If anxiety is making daily life feel unmanageable or you’re losing sleep, a therapist or physician can help. And if you want to understand why anxiety makes life feel so overwhelming, check out our articles on Racing Thoughts and How Executive Function Impacts Anxiety.