Being Optimistic doesn’t just mean forcing yourself to have positive thoughts. It means being hopeful and open to the future. It’s a mind set that can help you cope with anxiety.

If you’ve been pounded by the ravages of anxiety then chances are that you’ve had to contend with fear, depression, and pessimism. You may have had days were you just felt like giving up. You may have also told yourself that you just can’t take it anymore. Or am I just talking for myself?

Are you Depressed?

Let’s face it, for most of us depression is part of the “anxiety package.”

This is no surprise given all the emotional ups and downs that anxiety yanks from our souls.

I guess that’s just part of living an anxious life.

But, because anxiety and depression tend to come joined at the hip, it’s not something you can – or should – ignore.  Like anxiety, depression can affect your thinking, self-esteem, and of course your health.

The world of anxiety and depression will inevitably dish out a certain degree of confusion and chaos.  You will find promising roads and dead ends of all kind as you search for ways to relieve your anxiety and or depression.  This journey may frustrate you at times and the frustration can easily turn into irritability and anger.  Here are a few tips to help you deal with that emotional powder keg.

Today I wanted to introduce you to a great resource called The Reality of Anxiety .  The Reality of Anxiety is authored by Aimee who was kind enough to offer some tips for my readers on how to reach that ever elusive state of relaxation.

The wonderful thing about the modern age is that all of us generally have tons of information and services at the tips of our fingers.  In the United Stated for example we have access to all types of information at blazing speed, a ginormous health care apparatus, and a zillion options to handle almost anything ailing us.  And yet given all this, you will still have an anxiety relapse.

Sleep is perhaps one of the most loved and hated activities on earth.  On the one hand it takes up a lot of our time, makes us less productive, and can preoccupy our thoughts if something disrupts it.  On the other hand, sleep is nourishing to the entire body and it is also absolutely necessary.  Learning how to get sleep, even in the face of anxiety, depression and stress is a critical component of any strategy aimed at recharging your emotional battery and living a less anxious life.

photo credit: Matthias Töpfer

What should you do when your thoughts won’t stop racing?  How should one react when our minds are filled with speeding negative thoughts that make us anxious and fearful?  There are a couple of things you can do, but perhaps the most effective thing is to tell your mind to just stop it.

If you’re like me in anyway you sometimes get desperate for a solution to your nervous problem.  After all anxiety and stress can pile on the mental and phyiscal pain until all we want is to make it all stop, like now.  This of course is tricky business but after a decade of struggling with this I’ve learned that in order to achieve more peace in your life you have to do things, and repeat them often.  Here are ten ways to do just that.

Anxiety disorders and depression are by their very nature serious things.  So serious in fact that they both tend to suck the fun and joy out of life for extended durations of time.  As a result I wanted to help some of you relax a little by sharing some jokes about anxiety and depression.  Yes it’s true, all this nuttiness can be funny.

Sadly for the past ten years I have pushed away many friends and potential friends.  Anxiety and depression just made me somewhat antisocial, self-isolated, and more focused on myself and my own worries.  This phenomenon is actually fairly typical amongst anxiety sufferers but it’s the complete opposite of this behavior that could be making us happier and less anxious people.