9 Tips for Coping With Anxiety on New Year's Eve
With New Year’s Eve soon approaching, I tend to think about all the past New Year’s Eves I experienced anxiety attacks throughout the evening.
For as long as I can remember, New Year’s Eve has been a struggle for me because of the way my cerebral palsy and anxiety reacted together in certain situations.
So I decided to write some tips on how to handle anxiety on a day like New Year’s Eve.
1. Have a set of headphones for noisy places.
Over the years, I’ve found that carrying a set of headphones works very well for me since the headphones block out loud noises like firecrackers and champagne bottles popping, which are huge triggers to my anxiety.
2. Have an open discussion about your anxiety with your family.
Having an open discussion about your anxiety is one the best ways you can cope, and you can probably come up with a solution on how you could handle the anxiety.
3. Remove yourself from any stressful situation.
If you find yourself in a stressful situation and you feel an anxiety attack about to come on, remove yourself and come back to the activities you were doing later.
4. Write down your emotions.
Around this time of year, I find writing down my emotions about my anxiety to be very helpful. It helps me come to terms with my anxiety and let go of any negative thoughts I have.
5. Have something to hold onto when you start to feel anxious.
Over the years, I found having something to hold on to like a teddy bear or a stress ball goes a long way when you’re dealing with anxiety during New Year’s Eve.
6. Find an activity that comfortable for you.
Finding an activity that is comfortable for you is one of the best ways to cope with anxiety during New Year’s Eve. For example, my favorite activity is playing “Ghost Recon” on Xbox with my stepbrother Brandon, since playing video games distracts me from becoming anxious and it relaxes my body from the stress.
7. Stay positive.
I know staying positive might be difficult, but if you try, you will realize that being positive about your situation could go a long way in your struggle with anxiety during this time of the year.
8. Try to make humor out of your situation.
Sometimes, when I have an anxiety attack during New Year’s Eve parties with my family, I tend to make a joke out of it. I usually say something along the lines of, “Anxiety is having a party in my brain,” and everybody just starts laughing their heads off. I tend to make jokes out of my anxiety attacks because I don’t want people around me to feel bad about it. You know what they say: sometimes, laughter is the best medicine.
9. Resting up.
Sometimes during New Year’s Eve, I like to go to bed early and rest up since sleeping calms down my anxiety and relaxes my body so that I’m not as stressed any during New Year’s Eve festivities. Ultimately, having anxiety can be tough, but I hope these tips can help you through it.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
Tylia L. Flores is a twenty-eight-year-old born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Despite her condition that affects her mobility, she does not allow it to affect her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. Tylia is not only an author. She’s a radio show personality and a disability activist. Tylia has written about disability-related topics for Yahoo Life, Your Tango, The Mighty, ReadUnwritten.com, Words Between Coasts Project, Wednesday, Spilwords, and Goble Thrive. Worth Living Among her other appearances are Disability on the Spectrum and Why I was Afraid of Sexuality. Previously, Tylia was nominated to Diversabilities list of the most influential Disability Impacts of 2022. Additionally, Tylia holds the position of chairman in the creative director role for the North American Association Of Cerebral Palsy Advocates. She serves as a mentor for the Disability EmpowHer Network as well. Tylia also works for Write It Up Publishing as a sensitivity reader focusing on disability representation. Tylia has also been involved in many movie press releases for Samuel Goldwyn Films Come as you are Piece of me which was the short film directed and written by award winning filmmaker Bruna Cabral as well as the film adaptation of the book Calvin can’t fly by Jenifer Burnes Tylia is also a keynote speaker at 2020’s Cerebral Palsy Awareness conference. She has also been a guest speaker at Northeastern State University Broken Arrow where she talks to college students about disability and inclusion in education. She has also been a guest speaker at Plantation Middle School, where she discussed inclusion and disability with classmates. Tylia is fully certified in Education for All: Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion through Cape Town University. She’s also certified in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University. She’s also certified in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Tylia hosts the Stomping On cerebral Palsy radio show with DJ Ty on Asheville FM with DJ Mouse during the Come On In the Kitchen segment once a month she also helps the staff behind the scenes, help bring awareness to disability awareness and inclusion within the radio broadcasting industry .
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