1. Get into a comfortable position (sitting, standing, laying down).
2. Take deep breaths. 4 count in through the nose, 4 count out the mouth.
3. Turn out the lights or turn the lights down low.
4. If you need to, turn on some soothing music. Whether it shall be orchestral, lo-fi, natural, etc. Whatever works for you. One time I put Country Roads on hour loop to calm me down.
A) Some relaxing genres include: lo-fi, orchestral, City Pop, jazz, folk, Christian/Gospel/Gregorian . Genres like vapor/synthwave and country, also commonly have relaxing songs.
B) If you prefer natural sounds, https://rainymood.com/ is a good place to go!
C) Something I highly recommend, cat purring ASMR.
D) Soundtracks are another really good source of relaxing music. Whether it be a video game soundtrack, movie, etc. Studio Ghibli and Disney soundtracks are an excellent source of relaxing music.
E) In some cases, listening to music that's nostalgic to you can also help calm you down. For example, if you grew up listening to classic rock/metal and have fond memories of those songs, that can help as well.
5. Do something you love to do that has a calming impact on you. Drawing, coloring, painting, crocheting, crafting, anything that works for you!
6. Watch something that relaxes you.
A) Studio Ghibli has amazing films that help a lot.
B) Bob Ross, Bob Ross, Bob Ross. Bob Ross is a painter with in incredibly soothing voice and super relaxing to watch. Studies have shown watching Bob Ross can help significantly with calming down and falling asleep: https://www.ascounseling.com/blog/bob-ross-anxiety/ . You can find episodes on Youtube and Netflix.
C) There's plenty of soothing anime to watch. My favorite is Mushi-shi and Cardcaptor Sakura. But here's a list you can check out: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurenorsini/2020/04/27/8-soothing-anime-to-help-you-relax-in-quarantine/
7. Heavy blankets can help as well. If you have a gravity blanket, I've heard they have a myriad of benefits to your mental health!
8. Read a book (not a reader, so I can't give any suggestions oof)
9. ANIMALS! Animals can have a huge impact on your mental health for the better.
A) Petting your animal can help lower your heart rate and can help relax you and your pet.
B) If you have a cat, letting them lay on you and purr can help a lot!
C) If you have a horse, go for a ride.
D) If you have fish, watching fish can help you relax.
E) If you have reptiles, reptiles like body heat and keeps them warm and content. You can lay with your iguana, lizard, gecko, etc. on your chest and relax together!
F) If you don't have animals, there's plenty of YouTube channels that can help.
F.1) A good one is Explore Live Nature Cams. They have a plenty of livestreams where you can watch animals live. There's sea life, farm animals, birds, and pretty much everything! And you can see them on their full website: https://explore.org/ .
F.2) BigCatDerek. He works at CARE Rescue Texas, a nonprofit that cares for big cats and other exotic animals. He does a series on his channel called Walk Around The Compound where he walks around and talks to the cats and different topics. It's excellent background noise and sometimes soothing to listen too.
F.3) If like reptiles, Snake Discovery is a good one. They do educational videos on reptiles, and it's also good background noise.
F.4) 2CAN TV is someone who has toucans and they teach about toucans.
F.5) BBC Earth is fascinating and sometimes soothing to listen to. You'll definitely learn something new.
F.6) Rescues like Carolina Tiger Rescue, CARE Rescue Texas, Wild Cat Ridge Sanctuary, Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary and more!
F.7) GEN3 Owl Channel. Just owls being cute.
F.8) Octolab TV. Shows octopi solving unique puzzles and situations.
F.9) Parrot Paradise. Shows parrots just being parrots.
F.10) Tofupupper. A good boi that only spreads positivity.
10) Keep a mantra in mind. Something that will help calm you down like: "It's going to be alright", or "It's okay", whatever works for you!
11) Talk to someone! It's okay to reach out in your time of need. There will always be someone willing to help you. Reach out to a family member, an irl friend, an internet friend, a teacher, a doctor, whoever. There will always be someone willing to help you. And you won't be a burden for asking for help. I much prefer you to reach out to someone than letting all those feelings bottle up. If you need someone to talk to, I always have DMs open.
A) Social Media support groups. They're EVERYWHERE. If you have Discord, there's a myriad of servers you can join that will have people who are willing to help!
A.1) If you're LGBT and have Discord, some servers you can join are: Spectrum (all), Game On! (all), Rammy (all), LGBT Family and Friends (all), Gay Geeks (all), Narpy's Cafe (all), Transpeak (all trans), and Transcend To Men (trans ftm). You can find all except Transcend to Men by just searching on Discord. Transcend to Men you can find on Transcend to Men Instagram account. You can also go to r/DiscordGroups on Reddit and see if you can find some groups.
A.2) Reddit is a great place to find people. You can search for subreddits depending on your mental health. There's r/Anxiety, r/HealthAnxiety, r/MentalHealth and pretty much everything!
A.3 There's ssssooooooooo much help out there, don't be afraid to ask!
12) Stuffed Animals? Sometimes cuddling with something/someone can help!
13) CBD Cream. CBD is a hemp extract that calms you down.
14) Stretch. Losen up those tense muscles.
15) Get comfy. Think of a happy memory. Go to a comfort zone. Eat a comfort food.
16) Take it slow. One thought at a time if you can.
If you are in crisis or if you need someone to talk to, here is a list of international crisis call/text lines: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines
This is no way a complete list, but I'll keep adding as I go on. If you have something you would like to contribute, comment or DM me and I'll add it!
Special thanks to my amazing Discord family who helped contribute to this list!
And special thanks to you for being so strong and brave!
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GraySky's Tips For Anxiety/Panic Attacks
Non-FictionI decided to compose an extensive list of tips I found useful for dealing with anxiety attacks and calming down. Some of these are things that I've found worked for me, some are things other people say works for them, some are scientifically backed...