How to Stop Anxiety Chills, Journaling Prompts

Anxiety can do strange things to our bodies. Sometimes, instead of feeling hot and flushed, anxiety can bring on waves of chills, making you feel cold and uncomfortable. If you’re struggling with anxiety chills, know that you’re not alone, and there are ways to find relief. This guide combines immediate coping strategies with the longer-term benefits of journaling to help you manage this challenging symptom.

Understanding Your Anxiety Chills

Anxiety chills are your body’s physical reaction to a perceived threat. Understanding how your body and mind connect during these moments can bring you a sense of control.

Coping Strategies for the Moment

While the chills are happening, here are some things you can do:

• Ground Yourself: Use the 5-4-3-2-1 method: Observe 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you taste to be more present.
• Seek Warmth: To counteract the chills physically, use a warm blanket, take a warm bath, or hold a hot cup of tea.
• Breathe Deeply: Practice slow, deep breaths. Inhale for a count of four, hold for a moment, and exhale slowly for a count of four.

Long-Term Management with Journaling

If you’re looking for a powerful tool to manage anxiety long-term, then you should start journaling. It helps explore r thoughts, feelings, and triggers effectively, so you can better understand them and take control of your mental health.

• Why Journaling Helps: It lets you process emotions, track patterns in your anxiety, and practice new ways of thinking.
• Journaling Prompts:
  • When I feel anxious, are my thoughts realistic, or am I catastrophizing?
  • What’s one positive way to reframe this situation?
  • What kind act of self-care can I commit to today?
  • Describe the physical sensations of your anxiety chills in detail (where do they start, how intense are they, etc.).
  • What are the common thoughts or situations that happen right before you experience chills?
  • When you feel those chills, how do your emotions shift?

Journaling Prompts for Anxiety

1. Today’s Anxiety Level: Describe your anxiety level today on a scale of 1-10 and what you think influenced it.
2. Gratitude List: Write three things you are grateful for today and how they make you feel.
3. Anxiety Triggers: Identify a situation that triggered your anxiety recently and explore why it affected you.
4. Positive Affirmations: Write down three positive affirmations that counteract negative thoughts you’ve had.
5. Breathing Exercise Reflection: After a 5-minute breathing exercise, write about how you feel now compared to before.
6. Anxiety Visualization: Visualize your anxiety as a physical object. Describe it in detail. How can you alter or reduce it?
7. Worry Breakdown: Pick one worry and break it down – is it a current problem, a future concern, or an unchangeable past event?
8. Self-Care Actions: List three acts of self-care you can do this week to help manage your anxiety.
9. Anxiety’s Message: What do you think your anxiety is trying to tell you? Is there a hidden message or a need to be addressed?
10. Comfort Zone Challenge: Write about one small step you can take this week to step out of your comfort zone.
11. Relaxation Techniques: Reflect on a relaxation technique (like meditation or yoga) you tried recently and how it affected your anxiety.
12. Letter to Anxiety: Write a letter to your anxiety. What would you say to it?
13. Future Self Visualization: Imagine yourself in a future where you’ve managed your anxiety effectively. What does it look and feel like?
14. Coping Skills Review: List the coping skills you currently use for anxiety. Which ones work best for you?
15. Success Story: Recall a time when you successfully managed a stressful situation. What did you learn from it?
16. Personal Strengths: Identify and write about the personal strengths you have that can help you manage your anxiety.
17. Mindfulness Moment: Describe a moment today when you were fully present. How did it feel compared to moments of anxiety?
18. Emotional Release: If your anxiety had a voice, what would it say? Write it out to release the emotions.
19. Anxiety Comparison: Compare how you feel today with a day when you felt very anxious. What’s different?
20. Self-Compassion Note: Write a note of compassion and understanding to yourself about your experience with anxiety.

Small notebooks like these minis are great for spur of the moment journaling on the go.

Click here for my favorite tiny notebook for journaling

I hope you found my journaling prompts for your anxiety to be helpful — it’s always good to get those negative thoughts out to make room for something positive 😉