How to distract yourself?

[julia241977]

I had an anxiety attack yesterday and, while I've come down from the peak and realized I really don't have anything to worry about, I'm still dealing with some residual anxiety.

I also recently started my first full- time job and my weekends and other days off are a new source of stress and anxiety since I don't have work to keep me busy/ stop me from worrying about stuff.

Any advice on how to distract yourself in these situations? I'm trying different hobbies but I find it's easy to lose focus and go back to worrying.

[NoraB]

The best advice I can give you is to stop trying to run from anxiety. Stop and face it. Acknowledge that your body is only trying to protect you from danger - except that it doesn't know the danger is your thoughts, not actual danger. When your heart races, it's doing what it should. When mine starts, I mentally say, 'Ta for trying to save me cocker, but it's a false alarm', then I do my deep breathing which immediately triggers the parasympathetic nervous system to kick in - calming everything down. It doesn't matter what you do, anxiety will find you, this is why you need to face it and acknowledge that your thoughts are just that - thoughts. I like the Harry Potter 'Boggart' concept where the children take what they fear and make it fun of it. It works for me. I talk to my anxiety. I take it for walks with me. 'Come on, ya grumpy sod - we're going for a walk'.