If you struggle with anxiety or you are prone to worrying, it can be hard to live in the present moment. Get 9 unique tips on how you can help yourself enjoy the present without getting distracted by worries and anxieties!
Some people are so good at taking each day one step at a time, but I am not one of those people.
If there’s a social event at the end of the week, I will spend every minute of every day leading up to it riddled with anxiety.
I’ll run every possible scenario of the day in my head, trying to craft a proper response to every hypothetical event.
When things are going bad, I worry about them.
When things are going well, I worry about the countless ways it could all go bad.
I worry about things that happened in the past, things that may happen in the future, and about the way I’m ruining my life with all the worry. Because really, what good is it doing for me?
One of my favourite musicals Into the Woods has a lyric that I love to use as a reminder to live in the moment:
“Best to take the moment present as a present for the moment.”
I’m not gonna lie, this is an extremely difficult task for me. My brain just loves to jump around in time, and it picks up countless worries and distractions along the way.
But just because my brain works that way right now doesn’t mean that I can’t train it to work differently in the future.
Your brain is a muscle that can be trained to do many different things.
Lately, I have been researching ways to train my own brain to develop the skill of mindfulness.
Every day, I am learning more about how to live in the present moment and to stop worrying about the future. Today, I want to share with you some ways that you can manage your anxiety by practicing the skill of mindfulness.
Related Post: 80 Ways to Calm Down your Anxiety and Worry
9 Simple Habits to Help you Live in the Present Moment
Habit #1: Develop a Minimalist Lifestyle
Minimalism is more than just owning less stuff.
It’s about only letting in the things that matter most to you in life.
That includes your belongings, your activities, your social involvement, and even your own thoughts.
When you intentionally choose the things you want to allow in your life, mindfulness will come more easily. Not only will you have fewer things, people, and activities to be anxious about, but you will have a better understanding of what you value and what’s actually worth worrying about.
Related Posts: 10 Simple Living Youtube Channels That Will Make You Want A Minimalist Lifestyle /// How to Simplify Your Life with the 80/20 Rule
Habit #2: Schedule time in between activities
I used to have a huge problem doing this! I would jam-pack my entire day with appointments and tasks, and I would be checking my watch the whole time to make sure that I would not be late for the next thing on my list of things to do.
It was incredibly stressful, and it made it impossible to be mindful during the day.
Instead of piling your day with things to do, give yourself lots of space between important activities so that you don’t have to be pushing the speed on each activity in order to stay ‘on schedule’.
It is a great slow living practice that will make it much easier for you to stop worrying about the future and live in the present moment.
Related Post: How to Find Work Life Balance When You’re Too Busy
Habit #3: Stop multitasking
Multitasking has already proven to be less productive than simply doing one thing at a time, but it also makes it extremely hard to practice mindfulness.
The more you multitask, the harder it is to be mindful- even when you are no longer multitasking.
So if you want to learn to live in the present moment, multitasking absolutely must go!
Related Posts: 10 Foolproof Ways to Stop Multitasking and Skyrocket Productivity /// 10 Startling Reasons Multitasking is Hurting Your Life
Habit #4: Search for simple pleasures in your day
Go on a scavenger hunt for the little things in your day that make you smile!
Practice looking closely at your life and practice focusing on small, simple things that bring you joy in your daily life.
Not only will this be a fulfilling activity, but it will also help you practice mindfulness.
On my worst days of anxiety, I’ve always found this activity to be a pleasant one. It never fails to remind me that the world is so full of small comforts and that I could lose everything in my life and still have access to these simple pleasures.
These are some of the things that I find that I consider simple pleasures (just to give you an idea):
- The feeling of the sun’s rays on my face
- The sound of rain on a cloudy day
- The crunchy sound of autumn leaves on a crisp, fall day
- The feeling of falling asleep after a long day
- Drinking my first glass of water in the morning
These are all things that don’t require money or special circumstances. They are simple, visceral, and always pleasant.
These are things that never fail to bring me joy.
You can help manage your anxiety by focusing on these things.
Related Post: How to Enjoy Life’s Simple Pleasures
Habit #5: Schedule a time to ‘worry’
I’m not saying you should set aside time to hunch down in your closet and fret over possible tragedies that could come for you any day now.
When I say ‘worry’, I mean that you need to schedule a time to consider realistic problems you might need to prepare for.
For example, back when I was teaching I was expected to make lesson plans for each day. I would often be anxious about the many, many things that could go wrong during these lessons.
However, instead of worrying about it throughout the day, I picked one time to ‘worry’ about all the possible things that might happen.
I wrote down the things I might need to be prepared for and it made me feel much more ready knowing that these things would not come as a surprise to me if they did happen.
It might help you to do a Brain Dump of everything that’s on your mind. Afterwards, you can then look at what you can do about some of these worries and which ones really aren’t worth the stress.
Related Post: How To Do A Brain Dump To Stop Overthinking Now!
Morning pages are another great way for you to let out some of those worries.
Don’t know how to do morning pages?
Don’t worry! I’ve created a Morning Pages Package that will provide you with all of the materials you need. With this free package, you will get a message of motivation, a printable 3-page-template to write your morning pages, and prompts that you can use to help give you writing ideas.
What are you waiting for? Get your free package by signing up in the box below!
Habit #6: Address your anxiety
This is another one that is simple but works wonders for me! When I am anxious about something, the longer I keep it to myself, the more intense the anxiety feels.
Lately, I have gotten into the practice of saying my worries out loud to other people.
Be careful that you are not sharing it with another worrier, though, because you will both run the risk of worrying each other further.
You need to find a friend who will hear your worries and tell you that things will be just fine.
I don’t know exactly why, but once I share the worry, it really doesn’t feel like as much of a big deal anymore.
In fact, sometimes I feel silly for worrying about it at all! If you want to help manage your anxiety, this is an extremely helpful and realistic step to take.
Extra tip! Ask yourself “Will I remember this problem in ten years?”
I love doing this! If a particular worry is really giving you trouble, I would highly recommend asking yourself this question. It helps to put your problem into perspective.
Habit #7: Pray
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Matthew 6:25, NIV
God tells us over and over in the Bible not to worry.
He repeatedly tells us that he will take care of us and that any of the extra stuff doesn’t matter as much as we think it does.
When you pray and ask God to take manage your anxiety, he might not remove all the anxiety, but you can bet he will take care of you. God can help you manage your stress if you just ask.
Related Post: How To Talk To God: 9 Creative Approaches To Prayer
Habit #8: Let go of the past
When we fail to live in the present moment, it’s not always because our minds wander into the future.
Sometimes, it’s because we are too busy dwelling on the past.
To achieve mindfulness, you will have to be able to let go of the future as well as the past.
Forgive others.
Ask for forgiveness.
Recognize that the past will not change and that it’s time to move on.
It is fine to reminisce, but if you do it too often, you will stop living the life you have now.
Related Post: How to Find Hope and Growth in Seasons of Pain
Habit #9: Engage in activities that will train your brain to live in the present moment
There are short activities that you do every day that can help you practice mindfulness. Improving your mindfulness skills will, in turn, help you better manage your anxiety.
Basically, you need to intentionally put all of your focus into a small task. Put extra effort into noticing all of the details of that moment.
For example, while you are doing dishes, focus fully on your senses while you are doing them.
Notice the bubbles that occasionally float out of the dish soap dispenser. Feel the warm water on your hands. Hear the sound of the plates as they get rearranged. Try your best to put all of your attention to the current task without getting distracted by anxiety or worry.
By practicing this skill for smaller periods of time, you are increasing your brain’s stamina. Eventually, you will be able to go for longer periods of time without getting distracting by anxiety or worry.
Here are some activities that can help you practice mindfulness:
- Going for a walk
- Doing the dishes
- Taking a shower
- Sitting and breathing
- Yin Yoga
- Eating Mindfully
- Drinking water
- Listening to music
Related Post: How to Practice Mindful Eating and Actually Enjoy Your Food
Do you struggle with morning anxiety?
Does your anxiety often happen in the morning? Does it make it difficult for you to get up and function in the morning?
Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!
I’ve created a guidebook for a morning brainwash routine that can help walk you through the process and create a morning routine that works perfectly for you!
With this free workbook, you will have a printable visual to remind you of the do’s and don’ts of a morning brainwash and a template that will help you prepare, implement, and review your very own anxiety-free morning routine.
So if you’re sick and tired of struggling through mornings, download the freebie below!
Like I said before, I still struggle a lot with anxiety.
However, these are a few strategies that I have been trying lately, and I’ve found that they help a lot. I feel confident that they will continue to help me develop the skills I need to better manage my anxiety.
It is my sincere hope that these tips will be able to help you move closer to that goal, as well!
Do you struggle with living in the present, or does it come easily to you? What do you do to stop worrying about the future?
This is such important information right now with so many stressful events taking place. Thank you!
I’m so glad you found this helpful! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Awesome post Genesis! I’ve never thought about scheduling a time to worry, as if it’s on a to-do list. I guess if you’re going to worry anyways, you might as well check it off your list! Thanks for the helpful and thoughtful tips. My go to is to pray or recite Scripture in my mind to take those thoughts captive. It’s really helpful! Our mind can be such a battlefield sometimes.
Prayer is such a good approach! I agree, so much of the struggle lies in our minds. When we can get a hold of that, it makes things a lot easier!
Great resource! I love the one about addressing your anxiety. Labeling your feeling or in this case, addressing exactly what is causing you anxiety makes so much sense to help process it and get rid of it!
Yes! I feel like mental health and emotions should be treated very similarly to our physical needs, where addressing the problem makes it a lot easier to solve the problem in the end. When we’re feeling anxious, it helps to talk about it and define it as best you can!
I am definitely someone who struggles with anxiety and in that struggle the best things i have done are to pray/worship and exercise. I have realized that if I keep up my running my anxiety (is usually) lower.
These are great suggestions! That’s good that you’ve been able to find some good solutions for your own anxiety.