Ladies, how do you self-soothe when you are anxious and/or crying?

18 comments

1. Booze

2. Activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

   Whether that is stress-eating or making friction with my palms and pressing them to my chest while I breathe deeply depends on if I’m actively episodic or just kind of coping so as not to reach episodic levels of the physical symptoms.

3. Sleep.

4. watching drama channels on youtube and eating chocolate

5. Emotional eating

6. Masturbate. Go on a walk. Eat.

7. I used to self harm and literally the only thing that stopped me when I was so anxious that I desperately wanted to self harm again was getting in the shower. I don’t know why, but it was the distraction I needed to snap me out of it.

   Now that I’m years out from the last time I self harmed, a nice bath will do the trick.

8. Make myself as comfortable as possible and give myself time to recover.

   me when i’m anxious, I try to distract myself until not so emotional and until I can think about my problem logically. i usually wrap up in a blanket, light some candles and watch comfort tv shows until i am calm again.

   i have autism spectrum disorder, & i’m not sure how this relates to other women without autism but making sure everything is ‘sensory’ friendly feels like a weight off my shoulders always – nice scents, soft lighting, quiet and comfortable are the way to go

9. Cleaning the house usually helps when my anxiety levels become too much where it’s hard to sit still. Gets me moving and thinking about other things for a while. By the end if I’m still anxious, at least it’ll be in a clean house!

10. Sleep. When things get too bad I just do not want to be conscious. But if I’m too anxious to do that: I take a long hot shower then distract myself with work/a physical activity/comfort movie or show.

11. A hot shower in the dark helps to relax me

12. I bought a journal and literally word vomit about everything that is making me upset onto the pages. Also wrapping myself up tightly in a blanket helps, taking a walk does too sometimes.

13. I let myself cry. I’ve found it really does me no good to just let my thoughts pile up. I have to write it down or talk about it or just sit and feel it, otherwise those thoughts will continue to bother me.

14. go to the gym and try and beat some personal record.

15. Food

16. Force myself to sleep
    But I’ll be sleepy enough from crying too much

17. Deep breathing. Focus on the breath. The anxiety will pass. Just breathe

18. Lately my dog does that for me. He is so small and cuddly and I love him so much. I just hug him or pet him and he’ll just be there for me. He can sense when I’m upset or anxious so he either tries to play games with me to “cheer me up” or licks my face untill I die out of laughter. He is so comforting and I just want to squish his fat face 24/7. UGH.