anxiety

For a couple of years I have been dealing with anxiety. Only twice has it ever grown into a full-blown paramedics-necessary attack. But I think that I've gotten better at handling it, even though it is still a constant struggle to find balance. I know that a lot of people have anxiety so I wanted to share some of the things that help me. Here they are:
1. Breathe. I actually used to go to breathing therapy and it was amazing. It really taught me how to control my breathing which would then control my thoughts and feelings a little better. When I start to get really anxious it helps to just take some really deep breaths to calm myself down a little bit. (The key here is deep breathing. Shallow breathing will only make it worse.)
2.Watch Disney channel. Seriously. Or really just anything that can make you zone out and veg. Do not under any circumstance watch something that is going to make your heart rate change rapidly. Action, drama, horror.....should not be the genres of choice here. Anything that can just level out all of my emotions is going to get me to stop being anxious a lot quicker. (So..sadly, no Grey's Anatomy sometimes)
3. A hobby. It has to be one that distracts your mind but doesn't frustrate you. So, it can't be anything too challenging. For example, I can go to the gym but I can't sew even though I absolutely love to sew. However, it can frustrate me sometimes. And doing something that is frustrating is not going to be beneficial when you have anxiety. Do something that you know how to do and is easy for you.
4. Service. This honestly sounds so silly and cliche, but honestly serving others makes you forget yourself. I don't go around serving my neighbors all of the time (or ever), but a great alternative is to serve your spouse or another family member. I love to clean and cook like a good mormon wife so it doesn't really feel like service when I'm doing it, but it does get my mind off of other things.
5. Be positive. This is honestly the hardest thing for me because it is so easy for me to get upset about too many things. I wish that I could just laugh at misfortune faster than I can get upset about it, but it is sooo hard. When I do laugh at the bad things though, anxiety definitely can't take the same hold over me.
6. Write. I have a specific notebook that I write in when I have anxiety. I usually have anxiety about one aspect of life at a time and I can't get over it until I write it down and try to "solve" it. So my notebook is filled with random things that I have gotten anxious over. One time I had anxiety about what I was eating so I have a page where I logged all of my food (and then stopped when the anxiety about it stopped). I have one page where I logged all of my expensive purchases, present and future (and then stopped when my anxiety about it stopped). And I have a page where I wrote my dreams in life because I had anxiety about the future (and then stopped writing every dream when my anxiety about it stopped). It just makes it so much easier to overcome anxiety when you get it out of your mind. Otherwise, it will just tumble around in there growing bigger and bigger.

I'm no expert but these are the things that help me.
I hope they helped you :)