It’s always felt taboo to speak about our mental health struggles. Often, it’s met with a simple, “you’ll be alright,” or, “toughen up, others have it worse”. However, know that you are not alone in your struggles. Being a parent comes with its own set of concerns and worries. If gone unchecked, this can develop into serious anxiety over time. You need to make sure you have a solid support system. Take care of yourself so that these feelings of anxiety don’t take over your life. If you are struggling with anxiety, here are some guidelines that will help you cope.

Find a Therapist

Finding a professional to talk to about what you’re struggling with and having someone help you develop the tools to deal with them are invaluable. Therapists can help you to uncover the reasons behind your worries. They can help you figure out your deeper feelings about the things that are making you anxious. You may not have known about them otherwise. Therapists can also help you retrain your mind so that you don’t get overcome by your anxiety. There is nothing wrong with asking for help from an outside source. If you have some questions on how much therapy cost, make sure to check out this great article from BetterHelp.

Talking to a therapist will help you decide whether you need to seek other treatments for your anxiety. These could include medication or newer treatment like TMS therapy. TMS therapy or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a frequently used treatment for anxiety.It uses magnetic energy to stimulate the parts of the brain that are otherwise not functioning at full capacity.There are other types of treatment.These include talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and meditation. Don’t underestimate the power of talking through things and retraining your mind. Learning how to take control of the thoughts that cloud your mind will allow you to be a calmer, more objective parent.

Don’t Transmit Your Anxiety

A common occurrence for people who suffer from anxiety is to impose their anxious feelings on others.You may think that you are being helpful by telling your child all of the 138 alternatives they could get hurt by doing such-and-such. Unfortunately, you’re not teaching them to be cautious. You’re instilling anxiety in them. Those are your fears, not theirs. There is a way to teach children to be careful and aware without imposing your anxieties on them.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

Social media has done all of us a disservice by constantly bombarding us with people who appear to be doing so much better than us. This just causes you to compare your life with others. Comparing your parenting skills, kids, or life to others’ does nothing but cause anxiety in you.

Everything in your life is happening right on time. Not to mention, you have no idea what people are hiding behind those perfect Instagram posts. If you find yourself spending a lot of time on social media, comparing your life to others’ lives,try cutting social media out and seeing if that makes you feel less anxious.

Anxiety is very real and can run rampant if not kept under control. If you struggle with anxiety,you owe it to your family and yourself to seek some sort of assistance, whether it be in the form of therapy, exercise, or traditional treatment. Being free from the grip of anxiety will allow you to live a more fulfilled, empowering, and enjoyable life.Learning how to healthily cope with your anxiety is like coming to terms with any difficult situation: at first it is at the forefront of your mind and feels insurmountable, but eventually, it becomes manageable.