3 Simple Ways to Calm Anxiety & Manage Your Thoughts
Anxiety Therapy in Colorado Spring
For whatever reason, algorithms love to feed me survival stories.
They always involve these unbelievable situations…
like the woman who was kidnapped and kept in a box under someone’s bed for 23 hours a day, over 7 years…
Or the person who went to prison for a crime they didn’t commit and had to fulfill their sentence for a decade…
And the group of kids trapped in a small schoolhouse during a blizzard no one saw coming, with no way out for days.
The stories are awful, and I don’t know how they find me - but they always suck me in. The thing that stands out most to me in each case is how people survived. There’s always some element of managing what was happening in their mind to cope with the difficult circumstances.
Like the woman in the box under the bed went to a “happy place” she created in her mind to pass the time…
And the person in prison stayed focused on who they wanted to be and the life they wanted to live when they got out…
A survivor from the blizzard kept their attention on counting and repeating, “I can do anything for 60 more seconds.”
There’s a clear pattern: they were able to manage their attention and thoughts in a way that helped them get through something incredibly difficult.
While these are extreme situations (and to be clear, highly traumatizing ones, which requires support well beyond just managing thoughts) - they highlight something we often overlook:
Our experience isn’t shaped only by what’s happening around us, but by how we relate to what’s happening in our minds
Anxiety tends to pull our attention into worst-case scenarios, repetitive thinking, and a sense of urgency. Learning how to shift and manage that mental activity can make a significant difference in how we feel.
Here are 3 ways to start…
“Chunking” time can make things feel more manageable
“I can do anything for 60 more seconds,” is a powerful example of breaking time into something we can handle.
When there’s no clear sense of when something will end, anxiety tends to grow. But when we create a time frame, even a small one, it becomes more manageable.
You might think:
I can focus on today
I can do this for the next hour
I’ll reassess in a week
During the early days of the COVID pandemic, when everything felt uncertain, I helped clients focus on manageable periods of time - sometimes hour by hour, sometimes one day at a time. This very simple habit helped reduce anxiety over the unknown tremendously.
Breaking time down like this gives your mind a break from trying to solve the entire problem at once, and helps you feel more grounded in the present.
Shifting your attention can change how you feel
Going to a “happy place” mentally is a simple example from our survival stories.
Where your attention goes, your emotional experience tends to follow. If your focus stays on the problem or how overwhelming things feel, that sense of overwhelm grows.
Redirecting your attention can quickly shift your emotional state.
This might look like:
talking to someone you trust
engaging in something you enjoy
moving your body
watching or reading something absorbing
Even just imagining a person, place, or activity you enjoy can begin to calm your system.
Grounding yourself in a positive thought (that you actually believe) can reduce anxiety
When anxiety is high, the mind often fills with thoughts that feel urgent, negative, and absolute. Gently shifting to something that is both true and supportive can change your experience.
For example…
This is really hard, but I can get through it
I don’t have to figure everything out right now
I’ve handled difficult things before
Thinking in terms of gratitude can also help. Gratitude and anxiety come from the same place in the brain - so it’s literally impossible to experience both feelings at the same time. You don’t have to overdo the positive, but shifting to something you’re truly grateful for can change how you feel about what’s happening.
Anxiety doesn’t just come from circumstances
It’s shaped by how our mind engages with our experiences. Learning to shift that process is one of the most effective ways to begin changing how you feel.
