7 Natural Ways of Coping with Anxiety

5-minute read

Adding something you love into your life is therapeutic and can help to refocus your mind and alleviate anxiety and stress. Here I am sharing with you 7 natural ways to cope with anxiety.

Think of an old hobby you used to enjoy and bring it out of the closet and get really excited about it again. Enjoying something for yourself can have such a positive effect on your overall health and reduce your anxiety level.

Caring for Plants

Horticulture therapy or therapeutic effects of gardening is not a new discovery. This type of therapy has been around for a long time, think of the uses of Bonsai trees. This type of therapy allows individuals to rely on their senses more, the smell of flowers and herbs, the touch of soft leaves, and the visual vibrancy the colors of plants bring to our environment. For more about Horticulture read How House Plants Relieve Anxiety here.

Research Your Hobby

This is how I got started. I noticed a natural thing occurring while caring for my plants and learning to become a plant parent, I was much calmer. I was not focusing on irrational emotional decisions, instead, I was relaxing more and feeling happier. It was therapeutic and my anxiety was easing up.

Researching your hobby can open a new world. I have found that there is a whole plant community out there. People who love and care for plants and finding it therapeutic is real! I have found my people. You can too. Getting involved in Facebook groups or joining a local group in your community to share and enjoy your hobby with can be beneficial for easing your anxiety.

Let Your Hobby Make You Money

In January of 2020, my fiancé came home for the weekend with the flu. The flu turned into an emergency hospital stay and ultimately, the kidney failure diagnosis that ended his career.

The next few months were some of the top-ranking difficult, in my life. During the initial hospital stay, we discussed getting a Poodle puppy and starting a Poodle breeding business, as a new side hustle option. I was not sure we were going to be able to do it living in an apartment, then, he was sick, and we were up against a whole new lifestyle.

For some crazy reason, I decided to get this puppy amongst everything we were going through. Once again, I was unstable, super anxious, and about to make irrational emotionally bad decisions. But this time it did not feel like an irrational, emotionally bad decision...

It just felt right! Sometimes things you add to your life, even though they may seem like a bad decision at the time, can be the best thing that ever happened. Bella, our first standard Poodle, was this for us!

Exercise While Enjoying Your Hobby

I now know we needed the Poodle puppy, Bella, we named her. We watched her grow; we were able to forget everything going on and play with her. I could not wait to get home and play outside with her. There are not many things more therapeutic than cuddling a furry, soft Poodle puppy. She was amazing, the focus was what we needed, and she got us through this tough time. Looking back now, both my fiancé and I, realize she was therapy for us during those darkest times.

Bella is very much a nurturing dog; she is going to make an excellent mom and she could even be an excellent service dog with some training. This was our next step for the Poodles.

Update: Bella is from a long bloodline of service dogs and has become a full-on service dog. Since she has had pups that have become service dogs as well.

Sharing this with others that suffer from illnesses or anxiety has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Investing in Your Hobby

I started training with Bella and Cooper, while it costs a little money, I consider it a good investment. Not only am I learning to train well-behaved dogs, but I am also finding more confidence in myself. Seeing these two learn new desired behaviors has been amazing! Through all of this, I am content and happy and able to cope with my anxiety in healthier ways.

Update- I now raise standard poodles and have over 200 house plants. I have revisited bouts of anxiety, but find that when I am overwhelmed, I focus back on my plants and my dogs.

Make Your Hobby a Weekly Routine

I do not wait for anxiety to build up anymore, I practice my plant and poodle therapy daily. When I have a tough day at work or home life gets on my last nerve I relax and cuddle up with a poodle or play fetch with them.

Plant care on Saturdays is a routine for me. I take this time to destress from my week. I allow myself to forget all about how tough life can be for at least an hour and just focus on the beautiful plants around me.

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Daily Therapeutic Practices

Becoming a plant and dog parent is a daily practice. Every day I learn something new about caring for plants and I love caring for my Poodles.

I have always kept a journal to record what I have going on in my life. This helps me so much to work through my anxiety. Recently I found a Breakthrough Anxiety journal, and this has truly upped my journaling for anxiety practice.

The daily exercises in this journal are simple and have helped me so much. I want to share this experience with you.

Get your copy here!

I hope you can identify with my story and are ready to join me on my journey to natural therapy for anxiety with Plants 2 Poodles.

Thank you for reading!