20 THINGS YOU CAN DO WHEN YOU ARE FEELING NERVOUS OR WORRIED
- Count backwards from 100 by 3’s (100, 97, 94...)
- Go for a power walk around the block
- Take a bubble bath or a warm shower
- Work out
- Play basketball
- Listen to your favourite music
- Read a book
- Repeat the words of a poem or song
- Draw
- Doodle
- Watch a movie
- Sort your sock drawer
- Think purposely positive
- Describe in detail all the things you see around you. Notice color, size, shape, texture and position.
- Consciously tense and relax specific parts of your body.
- Play simple word games such as spelling words backwards or counting the number of letters in a word.
- Imagine yourself as a rag doll and let your muscles go loose and limp.
- Avoid substances and alcohol when you are stressed out.
- Make a list of things to do that you’ve already done.
- Try some new ways of 'grounding’ yourself and become more aware of the present:
-Look around the room and notice the colors, the people, and the shapes of things
-Listen to the sounds around you, the traffic, birds etc.
-Feel your body, the boundary of your skin, your clothes, the chair or floor supporting you.